Lee Da-yeong to make U.S. debut with San Diego Mojo

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Lee Da-yeong to make U.S. debut with San Diego Mojo

Published: 04 Sep. 2024, 15:15

PAIK JI-HWAN
paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr

JIM BULLEY
jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

Lee Da-yeong, left, and Lee Jae-yeong during a Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders V League game in October 2020 [YONHAP]

Korean volleyball player Lee Da-yeong has joined the U.S. San Diego Mojo, the club announced Tuesday.

The transfer marks Lee's first move to the United States. The 27-year-old setter has played in multiple countries since her professional debut in Korea in 2014.

“I am so thrilled to be a part of a team with such high-level talent and spirit,” Lee said in a statement. “I can’t wait to play for [Mojo Head Coach] Tayyiba [Haneef-Park], and I am grateful to be a part of this organization and league and hope my addition to the team can bring success and joy.”

The Mojo play in the Pro Volleyball Federation, the women’s professional volleyball league in the United States that debuted in January. Seven teams across the country compete in the league.

“I am excited to bring Da-yeong’s impressive skills and experience to an already talented Mojo team for 2025,” Haneef-Park said in the statement. “She likes to run a fast offense and is trained in finding creative ways to isolate attackers. She is poised to make a significant impact to this organization, and I look forward to watching her help us achieve our vision of making another championship run this season.”

The move to the Mojo comes one season after Lee led French club Volero Le Cannet to a fourth-place finish in the French Ligue A for the 2023-24 season.

Lee Da-yeong, one half of the infamous Lee twins, made her professional debut with Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate in the Korean V League in 2014. She later joined the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders in 2020.

Despite showing outstanding performance alongside her twin sister, Lee Jae-yeong, while playing for the Pink Spiders, both siblings were forced to leave the team after being embroiled in a scandal in February 2021, when former middle school teammates accused them of being bullies when in school, listing 21 allegations including claims that one of the sisters had threatened them with a knife.

Lee Da-yeong then joined Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki and played the entire 2021-22 season before moving to Romanian club Rapid Bucuresti ahead of the 2022-23 season.

She seemed to adapt to the Romanian league at first, but disappeared from the roster after suffering multiple injuries during the season.

A back injury she picked up at the end of the season forced her to return to Korea for treatment. With her future at the Romanian side looking unclear, she chose to move to Volero Le Cannet and played the entire 2023-24 campaign in France.

Lee also played for the Korean national team as a regular pick until the Korea Volleyball Association suspended her indefinitely from the national team following the bullying controversy.

She won two Asian Games medals during her stint with the national team — a gold in 2014 and bronze in 2018 — and helped the squad reach the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN, JIM BULLEY [paik.jihwa@joongang.co.kr]