No. 1 Hyundai E&C, missing Kim Dain, defeats Heungkuk Life, led by Kim Yeon-kyung...

 
No. 1 Hyundai E&C, missing Kim Dain, defeats Heungkuk Life, led by Kim Yeon-kyung...


Hyundai E&C retained its top spot in the women's professional volleyball league by defeating second-ranked Heungkuk Life despite the absence of star setter Kim Dae-in.

Hyundai E&C defeated Heungkuk Saengsaeng with a set score of 3-1 (23-25 25-23 25-16 25-20) in a visiting match of the Dodram 2023-2024 V League Women's Division at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Tuesday.

Riding a nine-game winning streak, Hyundai E&C became the first team to reach the 40-point mark (13-4) and widened the gap to four points over second-place Heungkuk Life (36-13).

The win over Heungkuk Life was significant because it was the first time HMC had beaten them this season.

Hyundai E&C lost both matches against Heungkuk Life in the first and second rounds 2-3 after a close full-set match, but managed to get revenge in the third meeting.

On this day, Hyundai E&C played under great pressure as their star setter Kim Dain was quarantined due to flu symptoms.

Kim's absence was huge. Hyundai E&C missed many opportunities to earn points due to their monotonous offense.

Meanwhile, Heungkuk Life unleashed an onslaught with Kim Yeon-kyung.

Kim was on fire in the first set, scoring a team-high eight points. She hit strong spikes from the front (3 points) and back (4 points).

At 18-24 in the first set, Hyundai E&C regrouped and scored five straight points to take the lead.

Despite dropping the first set 23-25, the team kept the momentum going.

HMC took an early lead in the second set, and at 15-12, back-to-back attack errors by Kim Yeon-kyung turned the tide of the match.

From then on, Asian quarterback Sithong (registered name Wipawi) and middle blocker Yang Hyo-jin led the offense and boosted the momentum.

At 24-21, back-to-back kills from Kim Yeon-kyung seemed to allow the Koreans to catch up, but Moma Vasoco Leticia (registered name Moma) closed out the set with a strong spike.

With the set score 1-1, Hyundai E&C bounced back to take the third set with ease.

After saving her energy in the second set, Moma led the offense in the third set, scoring seven points.

Hyundai E&C closed out the match in the fourth set.

At 15-17, HMC pulled within one point with an attack error by the opposing foreign player Yelena Mrazenovic (registered name Yelena), but then Moma made back-to-back kills.

Yang Hyo-jin then blocked Yelena's attack to make it 19-17.

At 19-18, Hyundai E&C took a three-point lead when Yelena and Reina Tokoku (registered name Reina) alternated attack errors.

At 21-19 and 22-20, Heungkuk Life's Kim Soo-ji and Park Eun-seo made serve errors, respectively.

The momentum completely shifted to HMC, who closed out the match.

Hyundai E&C's Momah scored 24 points, while Yang Hyo-jin added 15 and Wipawi 14.

Heungkuk Life had 27 points from Yelena and 22 from Kim Yeon-kyung, but the team committed a whopping 29 turnovers. That was more than double that of Hyundai E&C (13).

In the men's match at Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul, hosts No. 1 Woori Card defeated No. 6 Hyundai Capital 3-2 (19-25 25-18 25-22 23-25 15-13) in a full-set thriller.

Woori Card improved to 36 points (13-4) and moved ahead of second-place Samsung Fire (31-12).

Woori Card scored a crucial point in the fifth set at 13-13 when Lee Sang-hyun blocked a follow-up attack from Ahmed Iqbairi (registered name Ahmed), and won the match at 14-13 when Mattei Kok (registered name Mattei) scored a back attack. 파워볼사이트