“Volleyball Empress” Kim Yeon-kyung (36) led Heungkuk Sinsaeng to the top spot. Her team’s performance was not enough.
Kim scored 36 points and an attacking success rate of 50.00% in a 6th round away match against IBK IBK Corporate Bank in the 2023-24 Dodram V League Women’s Division at Hwaseong Indoor Stadium on Friday. It tied the record for most points in a game this season, which she set on Dec. 14 against IBK last year.
Heungkuk Life won its 26th game of the season (7 losses) and moved into first place with 73 points, knocking Hyundai E&C out of second place. Kim Yeon-kyung was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the match for her ability to find solutions at every turn.
Kim got off to a strong start in the first set, winning her first attack. At 2-1, she served up a service ace, and at 11-5, when Heungkuk Life extended its lead, she worked perfectly with setter Kim Da-sol to deliver quick open attacks to the opposite court. At 12-6, she built a blocking wall with Lee Joo-ah to block Brittany Abercrombie’s open attack. She recorded a block assist.
At 17-12, she showed her fighting spirit by receiving the serve with her body. Heungkuk Life revitalized. At 19-16, with IBK down by three points, she went back to her main task, attacking, and scored the 20th point of the set for Heungkuk Life. At 20-17, he scored another point with the same attack. Set five. It was a back-and-forth affair. Kim Yeon-kyung scored three consecutive points to set up set point. Heungkuk Life easily took the first set.
Kim came back from 0-2 down in the second set, scoring the first point on an attack and the second on a serve. Even when Heungkuk Saengsang was down 6-9 and 9-12, she led the charge with a quick opener.
Her clutch ability shone even more in the final set. At 15-19 and down by four points, she tied the set with a 100 percent attack success rate, especially at 17-20, when she hit a diagonal open attack to get within striking distance, and at 19-20, when she scored a point by jumping in place from the back attack line after the ball was barely cleared by the defense. The away crowd erupted.
Changing the momentum, Heungkuk Life fought back with another time attack from Kim Yeon-kyung, and Kim Soo-ji scored with an exquisite push from the center to cut the deficit to two points. However, they were unable to stop Abe Crombie and eventually won the deuce. Kim Yeon-kyung did her part to tie the score at 26-27. At 27-28, she made an exquisite point by sending the ball to an unguarded corner of the court.
Kim couldn’t smile in the second set. She lost back-to-back points to Abercrombie at 29-29. After losing the momentum, the third set remained close until the midway point. In this situation, Heungkuk Life took a 6-13 lead after Reina Tokoku scored three consecutive points with a focused attack. After taking a breather, Kim Yeon-kyung scored a diagonal open attack at 14-18 to increase her strength in the scoring battle. Kim also scored Heungkuk Life’s 20th point 카지노 in the third set. Heungkuk Life, which reorganized its lineup, maintained the score difference and took the third set. At 22-18, Kim roared with one of the biggest ceremonies of the match after intercepting a quick open attack from Abecrombie, who continued to struggle.
Kim roared back at 8-7 in the fourth set after converting a high ball into a diagonal open attack. At 11-7, she fended off Abercrombie’s open attack again and then celebrated on the court. The match tilted further in favor of Heungkuk Life.
At 13-7, Kim scored her 30th point with an open attack. At 21-17, she hit a diagonal open attack to end the mega rally. 34th point. Heungkuk Life closed out the match in the fourth set with the lead, and Kim once again showed why she is the best player in the league.
After the match, Kim said, “Every set was not easy. It was always hard to come from behind against IBK. We got the three points we were aiming for, but I think we had our ups and downs.” “It’s not good for one player to score a lot of points, but when we played against KEB, our overall performance dropped, so I think I got a little bit of the share,” she reflected.
Although Heungkuk Life has won all six regular-season games against IBK, Kim was disappointed that they were unable to put in a better performance.