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'There were no surprises' Heungkuk Life wins PO first leg with Jung Gwan-jang
After falling just short of the championship last season, Heungkuk Life is back on track to return to the top of the Korean Volleyball League with a victory in its first spring volleyball match.
The team defeated Jungkwanjang 3-1 (22-25 25-13 25-23 25-23) in straight sets in the first round of the Dodram 2023-2024 V-League Postseason Playoffs at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Wednesday.
Heungkuk Life, which finished second in the regular season, will head to the championship match against No. 1 Hyundai E&C with a win in the upcoming away second leg.
In the 17 previous women's playoffs, the first-round winner has a 100 percent chance of advancing to the championship game.
The match was a nail-biter.
After a frightening surge at the end of the regular season, Jung Kwanjang took the first set and looked poised to make another run at Heungkuk Life.
At one point in the first set, Heungkuk Life led 15-9 and looked to be on their way to an easy set win, but their main guns Kim Yeon-kyung and Willow's attacks were repeatedly blocked, and they were shocked when back-to-back errors turned the tide.
However, Heungkuk Sinsaeng quickly recovered from the setback. In particular, Kim Yeon-kyung and Reina's attacks, which had been sluggish in the first set, began to come alive, and their attack success rate increased dramatically, allowing them to break through the opponent's defense.
The deciding set was the third set with the set score tied 1-1. Heungkuk Life faced a big crisis at 16-22, but Kim Yeon-kyung stabilized the team and forced the opponent to commit attack errors, and the team began to catch up. Eventually, with the score tied at 23-23, Willow's attack turned the tide, and after a long rally, Willow once again put the ball in Jung Kwan-jang's camp with a powerful shot.
The fourth set was a close battle. Heungkuk Life relentlessly exploited their opponent's weaknesses and shut down Mega's attacks to take a slim lead. Eventually, at 24-23, Reyna landed an open attack to end the long game.
For Heungkuk Life, Willow poured in a team-high 25 points, followed by Kim Yeon-kyung with 23 and Reyna with 18. Jung Kwan-jang, on the other hand, fell to their knees as Jia and Mega combined for 51 points, well over half of their 69 points, but were unable to harness the power of their homegrown players.