OK Financial Group and Hyundai Capital will battle for a spot in the Playoffs (PO) in the V-League Men’s Division.
OK Financial Group and Hyundai Capital will meet in the semi-finals at Ansan Sangroksoo Gymnasium on April 21 at 7 p.m. OK Financial Group finished third in the regular season with a 58-20 W-L record, while Hyundai Capital qualified for the Postseason (PS) with a 55-18 W-L record. In the V-League, the third- and fourth-place finishers must be within three points of each other to qualify for the semi-postseason. Hyundai Capital defeated OK Financial Group in a full-set thriller in the final match of the regular season on the 15th, reducing the margin of victory between the two teams from 4 to 3 and dramatically securing a Semi-Po. 토토 This evened the two teams’ head-to-head record in the regular season at 3-3.
It’s hard to predict a winner in the current Semi-Po system because it’s a single-elimination format. However, there have been three ‘upsets’ in the four men’s Semi-Points since the single-elimination format was introduced in 2013-2014. All of them came in succession from the 2020-2021 season to last season. This was not a pleasant experience for OK Financial Group, who had been looking ahead to the POs. The only benefit of third place is home advantage.
OK Financial Group will need to show equal offense with foreign player Leo. Leo has scored a whopping 171 points (53.95% offensive success rate) in six games against Hyundai Capital this season. This is the most points scored by both teams, but as a team, the offense of Hyundai Capital, led by Heo Soo-bong and Ahmed, has been inferior. OK Financial Group will have to rely on domestic attackers such as Chae-hwan, Song Hee-chae, and Shin Seong-jin to take the pressure off Leo.
At Hyundai Capital, error management is essential. They committed 180 errors in six games against OK Financial Group this season. This explains why they struggled despite their excellent reception percentage (49.43%). He was often unstable with the toss or unable to finish properly in attack.
OK Financial Group, who reached the PS for the first time in three years, and Hyundai Capital, last season’s Champions League runners-up, will be looking higher than the Semi-Po. “We will play with the mindset of ‘clearing’ one by one,” said OK Financial Group head coach Masashi Ogino. “I don’t think I’m better at volleyball than Heo Su-bong, but we’re a team that has challenged all players as one,” said Chae Hwan, “and we will show that volleyball is a team sport.”
“Our story has just begun,” said acting head coach Jin Soon-ki, who rescued Hyundai Capital from the brink of last place. “We will start at the bottom, finish well, and take our story to the pinnacle.” “We have to play Kim Ji-han (Woori Card) in the PO, so we will definitely win the semi-PO,” Heo Soo-bong vowed.