Professional volleyball’s KEPCO has won six straight matches for the first time in nearly eight years and 10 months.
KEPCO defeated KB Insurance 3-0 (25-19 25-15 26-24) in straight sets in a men’s home match of the Dodram 2023-2024 V League at Suwon Gymnasium in Gyeonggi-do, Gyeonggi-do, on Feb. 2.
KEPCO has won six games in a row, starting with a victory against OK Financial Group on March 14, to jump to the top of the standings.
The fifth-ranked KEPCO has 21 points (7-6) and has eliminated the point difference between third-ranked Samsung Fire (21-8) and fourth-ranked OK Financial Group (21-8), who have played one less match.
KB Sonbo, on the other hand, has lost 12 straight games, tying the team record for the longest losing streak.
After winning their first game of the season against KEPCO on October 17, KB Sonbo lost their next 12 games.
This is the second time KB Sonbo has lost 12 straight games since the 2019-2020 season.
The bottom-ranked KB Sonbo will be tied for the club’s longest losing streak if it loses at home to OK Financial Group on Oct. 6.
OK put the pressure on KB Sonbo, with mainstays Taith Lesser Host (real name Taith), Seo Jae-duk, and Lim Sung-jin piling up points through a variety of offensive routes.
KB Sonbo, on the other hand, self-destructed with monotonous play that relied on foreign player Andres Villena.
KEPCO gained momentum in the first set when veteran middle blocker Shin Young-seok caught Bjerna with a celestial block in each game.
At 13-10, Shin blocked Bijena’s attack to extend the lead.
With a four-point lead, KEPCO easily took the first set as the trio of Tice, Lim Sung-jin, and Seo Jae-duk delivered strong spikes.
KB Sonbo lost the battle. In the second set, KB Sonbo made a series of crucial errors and KEPCO capitalized on the opportunity.
At 13-9, KEPCO scored four straight points, including back-to-back attack errors, to take control of the set.
KEPCO closed out the match in the third set.
Lim Sung-jin shined. Lim made back-to-back crucial attacks at 23-23 and 24-24 deuce.
At 25-24, Lim served hard to take control of the offense, and Tais got a quick opener to end the game.
Tais finished with 18 points, including three service aces, while Im Sung-jin contributed 14 points, including four blocks.
Bijena scored 16 points, but showed signs of fatigue as she committed seven errors.
KB Sonbo had 22 team errors on the day, more than double that of KEPCO (10).
In the women’s match at Chungmu Gymnasium in Daejeon, IBK came from behind to defeat Chungkwanjang 3-2 (14-25 17-25 25-19 25-18 15-11).
After dropping the first and second sets, IBK removed Hwang Min-kyung in the middle of the third set and brought on Yuk Seo-young to increase the firepower.
On the day, Yuk Seo-young scored 16 points with a high attack success rate of 55.17%, inspiring her teammates.
Completing the upset was veteran outside hitter Pyo Seung-ju.
At 11-9 in the fifth set, Pyo blocked a quick opener from Megawatti Puttiwi (registered name Mega) and then scored on a quick opener in the ensuing rally.
Jung Kwan-joong recovered a point with a staggered attack from Mega, but Pyo Seung-joo converted another quick open at 13-10 for match point.
Pyo Seung-ju scored a quick opener at 14-11 to seal the match.
Pyo finished with a match-high 21 points, seven of which came in the fifth set.
Mega chipped in with 33 points, but was held back by IBK’s strong defense in the fifth set.
With 16 points (6-7), the fifth-ranked IBK closed the gap on the fourth-ranked Jungkwanjang (17-5, 8-4) by one point. 토토사이트