Hyundai E&C extended its winning streak to eight games with a thrilling come-from-behind victory to regain the top spot in the standings after two days.
Hyundai E&C defeated Jeong Kwanjang 3-2 (17-25 20-25 29-27 25-21 15-11) in straight sets in the women’s visiting match of the Professional Volleyball Dodram 2023-2024 V League at Chungmu Gymnasium in Daejeon on Saturday.
After winning the third set after dropping the first and second sets, Hyundai E&C improved to 37 (12-4) points and moved ahead of Heungkuk Life (35-13).
Hyundai E&C dominated in the first and second sets, to the point where head coach Kang Sung-hyung admitted, “They’re too good today.”
In the third set, Hyundai E&C was backed into a corner, trailing 12-15.
However, three consecutive attack errors tied the score at 15-15, and the match went to deuce.
Hyundai E&C tied the score at 26-27 with a late attack by Leticia Moma Basoko (registered name Moma) and took the lead at 28-27 with an attack error by Megawatti Puthiwi (registered name Mega).
In the ensuing rally, Hyundai E&C middle blocker Yang Hyo-jin scored a kill to end the third set.
The initiative then shifted to Hyundai E&C.
After easily winning the fourth set, HCE completed the upset in the fifth set by utilizing the center and sides.
At 7-7 in the fifth set, middle blocker Lee Da-hyun broke the balance with a fastball.
The open attack of foreign attacker Giovanna Milana (registered name Jia) flew out of the line without reaching the blocker’s hands.
Hyundai E&C’s outside hitter Jeong Ji-yoon converted an open attack to give the team a 10-7 lead.
At 13-10, Jeong made match point with a strong open attack.
It was Moma who finished the job. At 14-11, Moma landed a timed attack to end the bloodbath.
On the day, Moma played consistently in every set, scoring a match-high 33 points.
Yang Hyo-jin became the first player in the V-League to reach the 1,500 blocking points milestone (1,502) with 18 points.
After scoring just five points in the fourth set, Jeong Ji-yoon scored four points in the fifth set.
Jia scored a match-high 28 points, but was held to just two in the fifth set.
In the men’s match in Suwon, Woori Card defeated Korea Electric Power 3-1 (27-25 25-21 22-25 25-22) in straight sets.
With the three points, Woori Card (34-12, 4-4) extended its lead over second-place Samsung Fire (28-11, 5-5).
Kim Ji-han, who took over the ace role this season, scored a game-high 25 points (56.76% from the field) to lead the team to victory.
Matey Kok (real name Matey) added 24 points.
KEPCO, on the other hand, has lost two straight games after a seven-game winning streak. They have lost all three meetings with the Woori Card this season.
For KEPCO, it was disappointing to see Tyson Lesser-Host (Tyson – 21 points) play with a bad knee and pour in 11 turnovers. 파워볼