As the professional volleyball regular league is approaching its end, the status of Korean Air and Hyundai E&C, which have been running for first place, is cracking.
Korean Air, which won the men’s regular league and championship match last season, has firmly maintained its first place this season from the opening game until now, but is being chased by second-place Hyundai Capital after suffering four consecutive losses.
Hyundai E&C, the women’s ‘absolute best’, also won 12 consecutive victories at the opening, and the championship seemed to be taken away, but a series of bad news for injuries to key players struck, and Heungkuk Life Insurance’s fierce pursuit with Kim Yeon-kyung put the first place at risk.
Has strength gone… Korean Air caught up in turbulence Korean Air,
which is trying to win the combined championship for the fourth year in a row, seemed to easily confirm the championship by taking a nine-point lead over second place Hyundai Capital.
However, Korean Air’s wings are shaking. They are 19-8 this season, and have recently suffered four losses in a row. In particular, it was painful to lose in the so-called ‘preview championship match’ against Hyundai Capital on the 10th. With this defeat, Korean Air could not guarantee victory as the gap with Hyundai Capital narrowed to 4 points.
Many of Korean Air’s key players, such as Han Seon-su, Kwak Seung-seok, Kim Gyu-min, and Cho Jae-young, are in their 30s and feel the burden of physical strength. Striker Lim Dong-hyeok, who boasts a young spirit, became a problem for the team with his ups and downs.
Lincoln Williams is not showing as much destructive power as foreign players from other teams. Except when he joined during the season, he has the fewest appearances and goals scored by any foreign player before Lincoln.
He is also controversial for his conservative player selection. Head coach Tommy Tilly Kainen made changes to his tactics by appointing several players until last season. However, it is pointed out that this season, only some key players are insisting.
Korean Air will clash with KB Insurance and Woori Card this week. KB Insurance is a team that suffered a 0-3 shutout loss to Korean Air in Uijeongbu on the 24th of last month and fell into a swamp of losing streak. Woori Card is also losing 5 times in a row, but this season against Korean Air, they are on a par with 2 wins and 2 losses. For Korean Air, it is an important week for whether or not to win first place.
Hyundai E&C crashes when cars and artillery are removed… Kim Yeon-kyung is chasing
Hyundai E&C’s crisis is more serious. This season, Heungkuk Life Insurance took on the challenge by recruiting ‘Volleyball Empress’ Kim Yeon-kyung, but Hyundai E&C did not care at all and ran a winning streak and ran first in the women’s division.
However, in December of last year, foreign player Yasmin Bedar was out of power due to a back injury, and the red light was turned on. It has maintained its No. 1 position for over two months with domestic players, including veteran Hwang Yeon-joo, who filled Yasmin’s void.
Nevertheless, when news 먹튀검증of Yasmin’s return was not heard, they finally decided to break up and recently recruited a new foreign player, Yvone Montaño.
Hyundai E&C prepared for a rebound, but another bad news came. On the 7th, Kim Yeon-gyeon, the starting player this time, suffered a major injury in which an ankle ligament was ruptured. To make matters worse, Hyundai Engineering & Construction suffered a 0-3 shutout loss to Heungkuk Life Insurance in this game.
For Hyundai E&C, the injury of Yeongyeon Kim is more painful than that of Yasmin. Even without Yasmin, they had endured with persistent defense led by Kim Yeon-gyeon, but even this disappeared.
In the end, Hyundai E&C lost to Pepper Savings Bank on the 10th. When the game did not work out well, Montaño, who did not have time to match his hands and feet with the rest of the country, was put in, but he ended up becoming a victim of an accident. In the meantime, Heungkuk Life Insurance has been chasing down to the bottom with a 1-point difference.
Hyundai E&C’s schedule this week is also not easy. We meet Korea Expressway Corporation in 3rd place and KGC Ginseng Corporation in 4th place. The recent momentum of the two teams is very good, and Hyundai E&C is expected to struggle as they are struggling every game to advance to spring volleyball.
As such, Korean Air and Hyundai E&C are facing a crisis right before their victory as if they had made a promise, and their stomachs are burning. However, thanks to that, the competition to win the volleyball board, which seemed to end blandly, became much more interesting.