Hyundai E&C’s newest foreign player in the women’s professional volleyball team, Moma Vasoco Letizia Crescens (registered name: Moma), has arrived in Korea.
On July 7, she greeted the team officials and received gifts and bouquets of flowers from fans who came out to welcome her. She was interviewed by interpreter Choi Yoon-ji (Hyundai E&C Volleyball Team YouTube channel) and shared her feelings about wearing the new uniform and her goals for the new season.
She said, “I’m happy to be back. Even though it was my third tryout, I was stressed. I’m very happy that Hyundai E&C chose me,” she said.
In May, Hyundai E&C selected Moma with the fifth overall pick at the Korea Volleyball Organization (KOVO) Foreign Player Tryout in Turkuye.
Moma is a Cameroonian national team member who played for GS Caltex in the V-League for the past two seasons. He was praised for his tireless physicality and powerful spike serve. He was named to the Best 7 (Lite) in 2021-22, and last season he ranked second in scoring (879 points), second in attack (43.68% success rate), and third in serves (0.246 per set) in 35 games and 134 sets.
While it is true that her relative lack of height makes her less effective than “former foreign player” Yasmin (Pepe Savings Bank), the combination of Hyundai E&C’s strengths in the center (Yang Hyo-jin and Lee Da-hyun) and Moma’s power-packed attack could be synergistic.
At the time of the tryout, GS Caltex coach Cha Sang-hyun said about not selecting Moma in the draft, “It’s not because he’s not good. After being together for two years, I and my team needed a change. If you play the same volleyball over and over again, you end up analyzing your opponents. We needed a change of team colors,” he said.
“It’s inevitable,” Moma said of her former team, GS Caltex, who will be her nemesis. We’ll give them a good fight,” he laughed. “I want to finish the season without any injuries and give my all for the team, and I also want to win individual awards such as MVP,” he said.
When asked about his memories of Hyundai E&C, Moma said, “I remember them as a team that always wins. I also remember the tall No. 14 (Yang Hyo-jin). She was a smart player who knew what to do on the court.”
During Moma’s time in the V-League, Hyundai E&C, with its “height” tagline, was a team that always won.
The team finished the 2021-22 season atop the regular season standings, 12 points ahead of second-place Korea Expressway Corporation, but was unable to lift the title as the season ended without a playoff due to COVID-19.
Hyundai E&C, which had solidified its image as a “top team” last season with a 15-game winning streak, had to settle for second place in the regular season due to the injury of foreign player Yasmin and 메이저토토사이트 the decline in physical fitness of domestic players in the second half of the season. In the playoffs, the team was unable to overcome the roadwork barrier and failed to reach the championship game. They lost to GS Caltex in the semifinals of the 2023 Gumi Dodram Cup Professional Volleyball Tournament on April 4 and did not advance to the final. It was their only loss of the tournament, and it came in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Momma is scheduled to join the team’s training on the 14th after undergoing a medical check and weight training.