Heungkuk Life extended its winning streak to nine games with an unstoppable momentum.
The team defeated Pepper Savings Bank in straight sets, 3-0 (25-16 25-22 25-17), in their home match of the Professional Volleyball Dodram 2023-2024 V League Women’s Division at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Friday.
Heungkuk Life won a close full-set match against Pepper Savings Bank on the first day of the season, but today’s victory was a dominant performance.
With 33 points (12-1), Heungkuk Life widened the gap with second-place Hyundai E&C (29-9).
On the other hand, the reeling Pepper Savings Bank suffered its sixth straight loss and failed to gain a foothold to escape seventh place (6-2, 11 points).
Heungkuk Life used its firepower to take the first set.
At 6-6, Heungkuk took advantage of various scoring routes, including a quick open by Kim Mi-yeon, an open by Yelena Mrazenovic (registered name Yelena), a back attack by Kim Yeon-kyung, and an opponent error.
With a reception efficiency of 23.81%, Pepper Savings Bank was unable to close the gap as they committed seven errors.
The second set was fiercely contested as Pepper Savings Bank fought back.
In particular, Park Jung-ah, who scored only one point in the first set, came alive with six points in the second set (41.67% attack success rate) and put pressure on Heungkuk Life.
However, Heungkuk Sinsaeng’s comeback was strong.
At 21-21, Yelena scored the opening point and pepper setter Park Sawa made a net touch error.
Lee Ju-ah then blocked a back attack from Yasmin Bedardt (registered name Yasmin) to save set point, and then Kim Mi-yeon blocked Park’s quick opener to seal the final two points for Heungkuk Life.
Pepper Savings Bank was unable to gain any momentum in the third set, committing four unforced errors in the early going.
Toward the end of the set, the team’s lack of on-court chemistry was exposed, and they collapsed on themselves.
At 16-17, the toss connection broke down and Yasmin’s attack was intercepted by her opponent’s blocking, and at 16-19, her imprecise defense allowed her to serve for an ace.
In the end, she lost the third set after scoring nine points from 16-16 with only one point.
On the day, Heungkuk Life‘s duo of Yelena (19 points, 39.13% attacking success rate) and Kim Yeon-kyung (17 points, 51.85% attacking success rate) proved their worth.
On the other hand, Pepper Savings Bank’s Yasmin (14 points) was hampered by a low attack success rate (23.53%).
In the men’s match at Cheonan’s Yoo Yoo Soon Gymnasium, Samsung Fire won a 3-2 (25-20 21-25 24-26 25-21 15-13) set victory over ‘traditional rival’ Hyundai Capital.
With the victory, Samsung Fire improved to 23 points (9-4) and moved into third place in the league, ahead of OK Financial Group (22-8, 5-5).
On the other hand, Hyundai Capital’s mood sank as they lost their sixth straight match in front of their home fans.
After dropping the second and third sets, Samsung Fire exploded for four service aces in the fourth set to push the match to a full set.
At 12-12 in the fifth set, after a fierce battle, Samsung Fire’s Yosvani Hernandez (registered name Yosvani) succeeded in a back attack and Hyundai Capital’s Ahmed Iqbairi (registered name Ahmed) was blocked.
Then, at 14-13, Kim Jun-woo scored a fast break to end the battle.
Yosvani scored a game-high 32 points, while Kim Jung-ho (19 points), Kim Woo-jin (11 points) and Kim Jun-woo (10 points) also scored in double figures.
For Hyundai Capital, Ahmed (29 points), Heo Soo-bong (16 points), Jeon Kwang-in (14 points), and Pei Chang (11 points) led the way in the loss. 토토사이트