Heungkuk Life extended its lead in the standings with a third straight win.
Heungkuk Life defeated IBK Sangsung Bank 3-1 (23-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-23) in the first match of the second round of the Dodram 2023-2024 V-League Women’s Division at Hwaseong Gyeonggi Town Indoor Gymnasium in Gyeonggi Province 현금홀덤사이트 on Monday.
With the win, Heungkuk Life improved to 6-1 and 18 points, widening the gap between them and second-place GS Caltex (5-1 and 13 points). IBK, on the other hand, dropped its second straight match to remain in sixth place.
Heungkuk Life dropped the first set. After a rally at 22-22, they gave up back-to-back points to their opponent Hwang Min-kyung, and were unable to stop the attack of their foreign player Brittany Abecrombie (registered name Abecrombie) at 23-24.
The second set was also close. Heungkuk Life struggled against the wall of their opponent’s middle blocker Choi Jeong-min. At 16-16, the attacks of Kim Mi-yeon and Yelena Mrazenovic (registered name Yelena) were blocked by Choi in succession.
However, Heungkuk Life turned the tide at 21-23 when Kim succeeded in a push attack from behind and Yelena tied the game with a strike attack. They then capitalized on a defensive error to take the lead.
Heungkuk Life took the lead again at 24-24 with a touch-out attack from Kim Mi-yeon, and at 25-25, Kim Yeon-kyung scored back-to-back points to close out the second set.
With the set score 1-1, Heungkuk Life easily took the third set. Spurred on by the momentum, Heungkuk Life scored four straight points to start the third set and maintained their lead to take the set 2-1.
The match was wrapped up in the fourth set. Playing a seesaw game, Heungkuk Life seemed to be falling apart after conceding back-to-back points at 20-20, but Kim Yeon-kyung’s staggered attack restored the momentum.
Then, Asian quota player Reina Tokoku (registered name Reina) tied the game again with a celestial block to stop Pyo Seung-ju’s attack.
At 23-23, Yelena blocked Abecrombie’s attack with an effective block and then hit a hard spike herself for a valuable point, and at 24-23, Lee Won-jung blocked Pyo Seung-joo’s attack to end the game.
Kim Yeon-kyung and Yelena led the offense with 25 points apiece. Kim Mi-yeon contributed 12 points and Reina 10 points. Abe Crombie scored 24 points and Pyo Seung-ju added 21 points for IBK, but they fell short at every turn.
In the men’s match at Uijeongbu Gymnasium, Hyundai Capital defeated KB Insurance 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-10) in a full-set thriller.
It was a mixed bag for fifth-ranked Hyundai Capital, who snapped a two-match winning streak, and sixth-ranked KB Insurance, who dropped their sixth straight after winning their opening match.
The match came down to the final five sets. At 9-9, Hyundai Capital’s main gun Heo Soo-bong served an ace and Jeon Kwang-in blocked an attack from the opposing foreign player, Andres Biyena (registered name Biyena).
Heo Su-bong then sent a spiked serve into the opponent’s court to seal the match.
Hyundai Capital’s foreign player Ahmed Iqbairi (registered name Iqbairi) scored a whopping 40 points. Heo Su-bong had 15 points, including two service aces, and Jeon Kwang-in chipped in with 10 points, including four blocks.