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Pink Spiders tie club winning streak record, three away from league best

Published: 11 Dec. 2024, 14:05

PAIK JI-HWAN
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The Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders celebrate after winning a V League game against the Gwangju Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders thrashed the Gwangju Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers 3-0 at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Tuesday and tied their longest winning streak at 13 games.

The Pink Spiders won the three sets 26-24, 25-18 and 25-18 to secure three points and maintained their winning streak in the 2024-25 season, where they have won all 13 games so far.

The last time the Incheon club set a 13-game winning streak was in the 2007-08-season, when they won the league title.

Three more wins will break the V League record of 15 games, set by the Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate in the 2022-23 campaign.

The Pink Spiders’ strong start to the 2024-25 season is partially thanks to the attacking duo of Kim Yeon-koung and Tutku Burcu. Kim has scored 258 points to sit in fifth on the top scorer list as of Wednesday, with Burcu sitting one place below her at 243.

The Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders's Kim Yeon-koung, right, attacks during a V League game against the Gwangju Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Kim, 36, was also part of the league title winning squad in the 2007-08 season. She extended her stay at the Pink Spiders after a disappointing stint last year, during which the Incheon club lost both the league and championship titles to Hillstate.

Hillstate have been on a good run with 10 wins from their opening 13 games, but the Pink Spiders have been untouchable at the top of the table as the only unbeaten team in the league.

Two head-to-head clashes between the two sides also ended with 3-1 wins for the Pink Spiders.

Winning the league this season would be the Pink Spiders’ first title since the 2022-23 season, when current head coach Marcello Abbondanza led the team to victory after taking over midseason and narrowly missed the championship title.

The Pink Spiders have fallen short of sweeping both titles since the 2018-19 season.

For Kim, a championship title would be her first since 2009, prior to her overseas career. During her time with the Pink Spiders, Kim has won the league four times, in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2023, and the championship three times, in 2006, 2007 and 2009.

The Pink Spiders will return to action on Friday against No. 3 Hwaseong IBK Altos in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi and face the Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks on Tuesday, Dec. 17.

Whether the Pink Spiders will break the league record is contingent on them beating Hillstate on Dec. 20.

Hillstate will be heading to the clash against the league leaders after tuning themselves up against the Red Sparks on Thursday and Gimcheon Korea Expressway Hi-Pass on Sunday.

The ongoing season will last through April, followed by the postseason consisting of the playoffs and championship. The league winners book a direct ticket to the championship where they face the winners of a series of playoffs between the runners-up, third and fourth-placed team.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]