The professional volleyball V-League ends the All-Star break and starts the second half race.
From the second half, the ranking competition for the ‘Spring Volleyball’ postseason is expected to get hotter. The women’s division kicks off the second half on the 31st with a ‘battle for third place’ between Korea Expressway Corporation and KGC Ginseng Corporation. The difference between the two teams is only 3 points. On the 7th, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Heungkuk Life Insurance’s ‘fight for first place’ will take place.
The men’s division starts with a confrontation between Woori Card and KB Insurance. Except for the ‘absolute first round’ Korean Air, no one can guarantee spring volleyball yet, so all future games can shake the game in the second half.
In the V-League, the 1st and 2nd places in both men’s and women’s divisions go directly to the postseason, and if the difference in points between 3rd and 4th places is less than 3 points, a semi-playoff will be held.
Heungkuk Life Insurance, led by Kim Yeon-kyung, challenges
Hyundai E&C. In the women’s division, the competition between Hyundai E&C and Heungkuk Life Insurance is the biggest attraction in the second half. Hyundai E&C maintained first place throughout the first half with 57 points. In the 3rd round, foreign striker Yasmin Bedardt suffered bad news due to a back injury, but she is holding up well with domestic players.
However, the pursuit of Heungkuk Life Insurance, with Kim Yeon-kyung, the ‘Volleyball Empress’, is fierce. Heungkuk Life Insurance is closely chasing Hyundai E&C by 3 points with 54 points.
Hyundai E&C hopes that Yasmin will return quickly, but the slow recovery is a concern. Even if they rank first in the regular season without Yasmin, foreign strikers are essential in the postseason, when strong teams face each other. For this reason, the key is whether Hyundai E&C will stay with Yasmin until the end or hire a new foreign player.
The third place is as competitive as the first place. Road Corporation (38 points), Ginseng Corporation (35 points), and GS Caltex (32 points) are closely lined up. In fact, these three teams, which have become difficult to place first and second, are expected to put their lives on the line to secure third place.
If the 6th place IBK Industrial Bank of Korea (28 points) survives, the women’s spring volleyball competition is truly foggy. Also, this season, attention is focused on whether Pepper Savings Bank (7 points), the “youngest” in the women’s division, will surpass last year’s record (11 points), which was the first season of its foundation.
In the men’s division, Korean Air continues to lead solo, challenging the combined championship for three consecutive years. Korean Air finished the first half with 55 points, comfortably ahead of second place Hyundai Capital (46 points). 안전놀이터
Starting with the opening five consecutive victories, they are looking forward to winning the ‘Wire-to-Wire’ without ever giving up first place. It is strong enough to rank first in almost all categories, including attack synthesis, serve, blocking, and back attack.
On the other hand, the competition for second place, which seemed to be winning by Hyundai Capital, has recently fallen into chaos. While Hyundai Capital faltered with two consecutive losses, third-place Woori Card (38 points) climbed up with three consecutive victories.
The third place on our card is also at stake. OK Financial Group (37 points) is chasing with the performance of leading striker Leonardo Leyva Martinez, and KEPCO (32 points) also succeeded in turning around with 4 wins and 2 losses in the 4th round.
Everyone has one concern. Woori Card has severe ups and downs in the offensive line, and OK Financial Group is in pain of the vacancy of Cho Jae-seong, who fell due to suspicion of military service corruption. Fortunately, as Song Myeong-geun returns from military service, he maintains his power. KEPCO depends on how active Lim Seong-jin, the ‘next-generation ace’, is.
On the other hand, 6th place KB Insurance (25 points) and 7th place Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (19 points) are expected to play an important role in the second half of the game as they have the power to sprinkle red pepper powder on top teams, although spring volleyball has become virtually difficult.