End of women's V League season canceled as Covid cases climb

Volleyball

Published: 22 Mar. 2022, 13:33 Updated: 22 Mar. 2022, 17:28

End of women's V League season canceled as Covid cases climb

A health official disinfects Hwaseong Indoor Arena in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi on Sunday during a match between Korea Ginseng Corporation and the Industrial Bank of Korea Altos. [NEWS1]

The Korean Volleyball Federation (KOVO) announced Monday that the women's V League season will end immediately, canceling the remaining scheduled games and the postseason as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to climb.

The premature end to the season means that for the second time in the last three years, Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate are unable to win the V League title despite dominating for the entire season and being just one win away from winning the trophy.

Hillstate also failed to win in the 2019-2020 season, which was cut short after the first five rounds. They had topped the table that season after winning 20 matches and losing seven.

As a result, the last time the team took home the trophy was in the 2010-2011 season, when they won 20 out of 24 matches.

Athletes play with their masks on at Hwaseong Indoor Arena in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi on Sunday during a match between Korea Ginseng Corporation and the Industrial Bank of Korea Altos. [NEWS1]

KOVO announced Monday that the season will end after a match between the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders and Seoul GS Caltex at Samsan Gymnasium in Incheon.

The decision came after both the Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers and the Industrial Bank of Korea Altos failed to field the minimum 12 players for their next match due to injuries and a growing number of players testing positive for Covid-19.

The V League was initially postponed until March 16 after Hillstate, GS Caltex Seoul Kixx and Korea Ginseng Corporation were unable to field the required 12 players.

According to the Covid-19 countermeasures announced by KOVO, if the league is postponed for between 14 and 23 days, teams will be able to play all 36 regular season matches but the number of postseason matches will be reduced.

If the league is postponed for between 24 and 28 days, the regular season will end after the sixth round and the postseason will be canceled.

If the league is postponed for more than 28 days, the season is supposed to immediately end.

However, KOVO had decided on March 13 that the league would resume on March 20, finish the regular season in full and continue with a shortened postseason even though the league would have been postponed for a total of 26 days. Technically that would have meant the regular season should be shortened and the postseason canceled.

With the number of positive cases showing no sign of decreasing, KOVO has now decided to follow the rules in full and end the season as it will have been postponed for more than 28 days.

As a result, the women’s V League will not have a champion this year. Currently, Hillstate tops the table with 82 points after 28 wins and three losses, Korea Expressway Corporation Hi-pass is second with 70 points, Kixx is third with 62 points, Korea Ginseng Corporation is fourth with 46 points, the Altos are fifth with 31 points and the Pink Spiders are sixth with 31 points, while the AI Peppers trail with 11 points.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]