Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers, the seventh club in the women's V-League, ranked last for three consecutive seasons, setting the record of disgraceful record (23 consecutive losses) in the women's history of the 2023-2024 season, even after recruiting the "biggest fish" Park Jung-ah from the FA market in 2023. In addition, in the second half of the season, the eldest sister Oh Ji-young Libero was terminated from the club due to controversy over her junior's abuse, and manager Joe Trinzi, who replaced Ahen Kim in June last year, was replaced after failing to coach the team properly for a season.

Pepper Savings Bank appointed SBS sports commentator Jang So-yeon as its fourth coach on March 25 when the playoffs were underway. After the season, Oh Ji-young filled the vacancy of Leebero by recruiting Han Da-hye Rivero for 3 years and 870 million won in the FA market. And in the subsequent Asian quarter draft, Jangwi, a middle blocker from China who boasts a 197cm height, which was considered the biggest fish among the tryout participants, was brought in by winning the first overall pick.

However, due to the nature of the middle blocker position where the player will be replaced by Libero, the player cannot strengthen the center of Pepper Savings Bank through his performance alone. This means that the performance of the middle blocker partner who will keep the center of Pepper Savings Bank along with the player position in the 2024-2025 season is very important. As Seo Chae-won (GS Caltex KIXX) left as a compensator for Han Da-hye, the competition for middle blocker at Pepper Savings Bank is expected to be a two-way race between Ha Hye-jin and Yeom Erung next season.

Ha Hye-jin, the second daughter of former coach Ha Jong-hwa, who dominated Korean volleyball in the 1990s, graduated from Jinju Myeongseong Girls' High School, the prestigious volleyball club, and joined the Korea Expressway Corporation Hi-pass with the third overall pick in the 2014-2015 season rookie draft. Ha Hye-jin played mostly apogit spikers in high school, but in the V-League, apogit spikers were foreign players' positions, and Ha Hye-jin was also forced to transform into an outside heater who participated in sub-receives after joining the professional league.

However, Ha Hye-jin, who did not have much advantage in defense compared to her excellent offense and was injured frequently, has not grown as expected. In fact, Ha Hye-jin played in 120 games and scored only 371 points during her seven seasons at the Korea Expressway Corporation. Ha Hye-jin became a FA after the 2020-2021 season, but she was on the verge of becoming "FA MIA" because she could not sign with any team. At the same time, she was able to become a founding member of Pepper Savings Bank when Pepper Savings Bank was founded.

Ha Hye-jin, who turned into a middle blocker after transferring to Pepper Savings Bank, played as the main middle blocker of Pepper Savings Bank in the 2021-2022 season, scoring 156 points in 30 games and 0.39 blocks per set. Ha Hye-jin showed the possibility of multi-positioning by playing as an apogit spiker in the cup tournament that followed, and even the national team was selected, but she failed to play a game in the 2022-2023 season due to surgery for a shoulder injury and clinging to rehabilitation.

However, Ha Hye-jin overcame her injury after a year and returned to the team, playing as a key middle blocker for Pepper Savings Bank along with M.J. Phillips in the 2023-2024 season. Although the team's performance fell far short of expectations, Ha Hye-jin played in 35 games, ranking 15th in fastball (36.24%) and 10th in blocking (0.48 per set). Above all, it was a very meaningful season for Ha Hye-jin just to overcome a big injury that could have threatened her career and return to the court in good health and play full-time.

Ha Hye-jin, who played full-time as a main middle blocker in the 2023-2024 season, is likely to become a central partner in the Asian quarter in the upcoming 2024-2025 season. Of course, Ha Hye-jin's height (181 centimeters) is 16 centimeters shorter than her height, but Choi Jung-min (0.83 per set) who ranks first in blocking in the 2023-2024 season is also 179 centimeters, one of the shortest among middle blockers. This means that Ha Hye-jin, who is gradually adapting to the middle blocker position, can also exert her full power in the center next season.