Men’s professional volleyball’s KEPCO has won four straight matches to climb out of the bottom half of the table.
KEPCO swept KB Insurance 3-0 (25-21 29-27 25-23) in straight sets in the men’s visiting match of the 2023-2024 Dodram V League on Thursday at Uijeongbu Gymnasium in Gyeonggi Province.
With the three points, KEPCO (15-5 W-6 L) moved within striking distance of fourth-place OK Financial Group (15-6 W-4 L).
KEPCO finished the first round in seventh place (1-5), the lowest ranked team, but reeled off four straight wins in the second round after a one-game losing streak.
KB Insurance (7-1, 10 points), on the other hand, has lost 10 straight games since winning the team’s opening game this season.
KEPCO took an easy first set.
At 13-13, they capitalized on back attacks from Tyson Dulhos (real name Tys) and Im Sung-jin, a fastball from Shin Young-seok, and two unforced errors to take the lead.
The match went to a second set.
KB Insurance gave up a point at 12-16 after back-to-back blocked points by Liu Hong-min and Hong Sang-hyuk, then tied the set at 17-17 with an opener by Andres Biyena and back-to-back service aces by the Korean.
At 22-22, it looked like the Koreans were going to level the set with the first set point.
However, KEPCO’s Lim Sung-jin blocked Bijena’s attack, and Bijena’s timed attack went off the court to tie the set.
At 27-27 in the fourth deuce, KEPCO’s quick opener and KB Insurance’s Shin Seung-hoon’s unforced error gave KEPCO the second set.
With the victory in hand, KEPCO eased into the third set, led by Seo Jae-duk, who came alive with five points.
At 21-24, KB Insurance showed their backbone with Kwon Tae-wook’s quick opener and Bijena’s back attack, but Bijena’s final serve hit the net in vain.
KEPCO’s scoring was evenly distributed between the wings and the center, with Tice (17 points), Lim Sung-jin (13 points), Shin Young-seok (11 points), and Seo Jae-duk (9 points) leading the way.
KB Insurance, on the other hand, relied too heavily on Bijena (30 points) as Hwang Kyung-min was out with an injury. Liu Hong-min and Hong Sang-hyuk combined for just eight points.
KB Insurance (25) also committed more errors than KEPCO (16).
In the women’s match at Hwaseong Gymnasium in Gyeonggi-do, IBK Corporate Bank defeated Jung Kwan-jang in straight sets 3-1 (25-19 28-26 23-25 25-22).
IBK, which was ranked sixth before the match, accumulated 14 points (5 wins and 6 losses) to overtake Jung Kwan-jang (13-4, 7 wins) for fourth place. Jung has lost five straight matches.
Brittany Abercrombie (real name Abercrombie) scored a game-high 35 points, while Hwang Min-kyung (12 points), Pyo Seung-ju (11 points) and Choi Jung-min (10 points) contributed.
For Jeonggwanjang, Giovanna Milana (registered name Gia – 26 points) and Megawatti Puttiwi (registered name Mega – 20 points) played well but could not prevent their team from losing. 슬롯게이밍