The Heungkuk Life women’s professional volleyball team reached 20 points for the first time this season with four straight wins.
Heungkuk Life defeated Hyundai E&C 3-2 (25-23 19-25 19-25 25-22 15-9) in straight sets in their Dodram 2023-2024 V League Women’s Division home match at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Wednesday.
With the two points, Heungkuk Life (7-1) improved to 20 points to lead the league.
Third-place Hyundai E&C (14-4 W-4 L), which picked up just one point, fell behind in the win column and missed a chance to overtake second-place GS Caltex (14-5 W-2 L).
Heungkuk Life secured a thrilling victory in the second match against Hyundai E&C in a full-set thriller, following their first meeting this season.
The two teams battled for the title in the regular season last season and split first and second place in the league.
Heungkuk Life took the first set led by Kim Yeon-kyung (8 points), while Hyundai E&C fought back with Yang Hyo-jin (6 points) after taking a 3-1 lead in blocking points in the second set.
In the third set, Hyundai E&C was more focused. Heungkuk Life was disappointed with its error management (7-3).
In particular, Letizia Moma Bassoco (registered name Moma) had a 100 percent attack success rate without a single error during a six-point run until 16-13.
At 16-15, Hyundai E&C took a four-point lead with a center attack by Yang Hyo-jin after an opponent serve error and a service ace by Lee Da-hyun.
They gave up one point afterward, but Yang Hyo-jin’s opener, Kim Dain’s service ace, and Kim Yeon-kyung’s attack error secured the win.
However, Heungkuk Life did not go down easily.
Hyundai E&C fought back from 15-18 to tie the score at 18-18, but back-to-back kills by Kim Dain and Lee Da-hyun gave them a 20-point lead.
Kim then set the tone with a perfect block of Moma’s quick opener, and at 24-22, she took the match to a fifth set with a diagonal spike.
In the final set, the match was decided earlier than expected.
At 2-1, Heungkuk Life held serve with Kim Yeon-kyung’s opener and then scored five straight points.
Kim Mi-yeon shook the Hyundai E&C reception with an exquisite serve to set up a direct kill and then followed it up with a service ace.
Lee Ju-ah then single-handedly blocked Yang Hyo-jin’s center fastball, while Hyundai E&C’s Go Go-ji’s spike was pushed to the back of the court.
Hyundai E&C extended its lead to 15 points after an 8-1 run on a kill by Lee Ju-ah.
For Heungkuk Life, Kim Yeon-kyung exploded for a team-high 30 points, including three blocks and one service ace.
Yelena Mrazenovic (registered name Yelena – 17 points), Lee Ju-ah (12 points), Reina Tokoku (registered name Reina – 12 points), and Kim Mi-yeon (11 points) helped the team win.
For Hyundai E&C, Moma (28 points), Yang Hyo-jin (19 points), Wipawi Sithong (registered name Wipawi – 12 points), and Lee Da-hyun (11 points) played well but were unable to prevent the loss.
In the men’s competition, Woori Card was the first to reach the 20-point plateau.
Woori Card defeated Hyundai Capital in straight sets 3-1 (16-25 25-18 26-24 26-24) at the Yoo Yoo Soon Gymnasium in Cheonan.
With the three additional points, Woori Card improved to 20 points (7-1) and widened the gap to four points over second-place Korean Air (16-5-2), which has played one game less.
Woori Card left and right sides Matei Kok (registered name Matei) and Kim Ji-han each scored 21 points, while middle blockers Lee Sang-hyun (11 points, four blocks) and Park Jun-hyuk (10 points, two blocks) also scored in double figures.
South Korean women’s national basketball team ace Park Ji-soo (Cheongju KB) was in attendance to cheer on her brother, Park Jun-hyuk.
Hyundai Capital point guard Ahmed Iqbairi (real name Ahmed) scored a team-high 24 points, but made a costly offensive error in the decisive fourth set. 슬롯