Pink Spiders look to end Hillstate’s winning streak

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Pink Spiders look to end Hillstate’s winning streak

Kim Yeon-koung of the Incheon Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders, left, plays the ball against Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate's Yang Hyo-jin, right, at Suwon Gymnasium in Suwon on Nov. 1. [YONHAP]

Kim Yeon-koung of the Incheon Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders, left, plays the ball against Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate's Yang Hyo-jin, right, at Suwon Gymnasium in Suwon on Nov. 1. [YONHAP]

 
The second big showdown of the 2022-23 V League season is coming Friday when top club Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate face No. 2 Incheon Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders at Samsan Stadium in Incheon.
 
The match will determine whether Suwon extend their winning streak to nine matches or Incheon cuts the club's streak and draws level on points.
 
Just a month in to the 2022-23 V League season there is already a close race for the top spot in the standings. While Hillstate stay lossless with eight wins, the Pink Spiders are hot on their heels with seven wins. 
 
After wavering slightly in a tough five-set match against Daejeon Korea Ginseng Corporation on Nov. 11, Hillstate seems to have found their form again, breezing through last week's fixtures. Hillstate smashed past bottom club Gwangju Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers in three straight sets, 25-15, 25-17, 25-13, on Nov. 16 then outplayed the Industrial Bank of Korea Altos in three straight sets, 25-21, 25-22, 25-21, on Sunday.  
 
The numbers are also on Hillstate's side, as they have beaten the Incheon club once this season on Nov. 1 in four sets, three sets to one. If you include last season, however, the Suwon club has won the last three times they faced The Pink Spiders.
 
For Hillstate, the start of this season looks a lot like last season. In the 2021-22 season, Hillstate recorded the longest winning streak in the history of the V League, at 15 games.  
 
Hillstate was able to set that record on Feb. 22 after beating the Altos at Suwon Gymnasium with a set score of 3-1, beating the previous record of 14 consecutive wins set by Seoul GS Caltex Kixx in the 2009-10 season.
 
Not only did they win 15 matches in a row, but they also won 45 sets, conceding only 10 in total, meaning that they pulled off a 3-0 complete shutout in seven of their matches and had to play only two five-set matches.  
 
Hillstate will this season have their eyes fixed on the title after missing out on the trophy for the last two years despite topping the standings.
 
Last season, with Hillstate just one win away from winning the trophy, the Korean Volleyball Federation (KOVO) canceled the remaining scheduled games of the 2021-22 V League season and the postseason as the number of Covid-19 cases was climbing at the time.
 
The premature end to the season meant that for the second time in the last three years, Hillstate were 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 2019-20 season, which was cut short after the first five rounds. They had topped the table that season after winning 20 matches and losing seven.
 
While Hillstate heads to the showdown as the top club, the Pink Spiders trail by just one win, beating Korea Ginseng Corporation in three straight sets on Nov. 18 then beating Korea Expressway Hi-pass 3-1 on Tuesday.
 
In terms of points, Jelena Mladjenović is doing the heavy lifting for the Pink Spiders, having scored 30 points against Hi-pass. She is tied for second with Laetitia Crescence "Moma" Bassoko of GS Caltex on the points standings, having scored 165 points this season.  
 
Kim Yeon-koung of the Incheon Pink Spiders celebrate after scoring against Daejeon Korea Ginseng Corporation on Nov. 18 at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon. [YONHAP]

Kim Yeon-koung of the Incheon Pink Spiders celebrate after scoring against Daejeon Korea Ginseng Corporation on Nov. 18 at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon. [YONHAP]

 
But the Pink Spiders have the least secret weapon in the business — Korean volleyball legend and former national team captain Kim Yeon-koung. 
 
Kim this June signed a one-year, 700-million-won ($542,000) deal to rejoin the Pink Spiders.  
 
She debuted in 2005 with the Incheon club and moved overseas for the first time in 2009, joining a Japanese club.
 
The last time Kim played for the Pink Spiders was in the 2020-21 season, when she returned for one season after 11 years playing in Japan, China and Turkey.
 
Kim then jetted off to Shanghai in May of 2021 to join the Shanghai Bright Ubest Women's Volleyball Club, returning to the team four years after she led it to the top of the Chinese Super League in the 2017-18 season to snap a 17-year drought. The team finished runner-up in the championship that year.
 
At the time, the Pink Spiders, who Kim is still contractually bound to if she plays in Korea, made it clear that an offer was always on the table, rebuffing the suggestion of a trade to Pepper Savings Bank at the start of the season.
 
After having spent a restless 2020-21 season, playing a total of 41 games including the KOVO Cup, all regular season games and the championship playoffs, one of the main reasons Kim chose the Shanghai club seemed to be because of the shorter season.
 
This January, Kim became a free agent internationally after rounding off the Chinese Volleyball Super League season with Shanghai Bright Ubest finishing the 2021-22 season in third place.  
 
Kim initially headed to the United States for training, and at the time it looked unlikely that she would return to the V League. That changed when Kim returned home from training and the Pink Spiders reached out to offer a deal.
 
Kim's popularity last year also made her the first volleyball player with more than one million subscribers on her YouTube channel and, according to some reports, the most tweeted female athlete in the world in 2021.
 
Her popularity also led to one of the most flourishing V League seasons in the history of Korean volleyball, as fans filled the stands every game to watch her play.
 
The big showdown between the No. 1 Hillstate and No. 2 Pink Spiders is scheduled to be held at Samsan Stadium in Incheon on Friday, and will determine whether the Suwon club will get a firmer grip on their lead or the Incheon club will edge closer to first place.

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