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Red Sparks halt Pink Spiders' historic win streak with decisive 3-1 victory

Published: 18 Dec. 2024, 16:13 Updated: 18 Dec. 2024, 17:22

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

The Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks celebrate during a V League game against the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Dec. 17. [YONHAP]

The Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks beat the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders 3-1 at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Tuesday, cutting their 14-game winning streak and handing them their first loss of the 2024-25 V League season.

The Red Sparks were off to a good start, winning the first set 25-22 and second set 25-23. The Daejeon club lost the third set 25-14 but took the fourth set 25-22, putting an end to the Pink Spiders’ quest to record the longest winning streak in the women's V League history.

The Pink Spiders tied their longest winning streak at 13 games last week and extended it to 14 on Friday, Dec. 13. Two more wins would've broken the record of 15 that Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate set in its 2022-23 campaign.

The Pink Spiders are still six points clear at the top of the table, having secured 40 points from 14 wins across their opening 15 games of this season.

The Red Sparks, sitting in third on the seven-team table, continued their successful run. The club have won their past five V League games.

The Daejeon side has showcased a strong performance this season armed with the formidable attacking duo of Vanja Bukilic and Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi. The pair led the team to Tuesday’s victory over the Pink Spiders, with Bukilic racking up 34 points and Mega scoring 20.

The Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks' Vanja Bukilic, right, attacks during a V League game against the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Dec. 17. [YONHAP]

New signee Bukilic — the No. 2 scorer in the league, with 343 points, as of Tuesday — has been unstoppable this season. Megawati, with 320 points, currently holds the third spot.

Mega’s notable form is not a fluke. The outside hitter was an integral part of last year's squad, which reached the postseason for the first time in seven years, scoring 736 points in total.

Reaching the postseason for a second straight year, however, will require finishing in the top three or four.

The league's winners will directly advance to the championship, while the runners-up and third-place teams will compete in the playoffs to decide their opponent.

In the event that the points gap between the third and fourth-place teams is three points or fewer, the two sides play a so-called semi-playoff, the winner of which advances to the playoffs to face the runners-up.

The Red Sparks finished in third place last season and advanced to the playoffs, where they ended their title run after losing to eventual championship runners-up Pink Spiders. The Daejeon club has fallen short of title races over the years, with their last silverware coming from the 2018 Korea Volleyball Federation Cup — a preseason tournament in which all V League teams compete.

For the Pink Spiders, winning either the league or championship title will mean redemption for last season, in which the Incheon club finished as runners-up in both events and ceded silverware to Hillstate.

The Pink Spiders will return to action in a game against second-place Hillstate in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on Friday. The Red Sparks will host last-place GS Caltex Seoul Kixx on Saturday.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]