Matej 42 points explosion, Kim Ji-han 20 points support
Hyundai E&C defeats Korea Expressway Corporation 3-1
Men’s professional volleyball’s Woori Card extended its opening four-game winning streak with a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Korean Air.
Woori Card
Defeated Korean Air 3-2 (13-25 32-34 32-30 25-18 17-15) in the men’s Dodram 2023-2024 V-League at
Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul on Friday.
With the win, Woori Card consolidated its lead at the top of the standings with four consecutive wins (11
points) after the opening day.
With his 277th win in the regular season (214), Shin Young-cheol became the winningest V-League head
coach, surpassing Shin Chi-yong (276-74).
Korean Air, which suffered its second straight defeat, improved to 1-2-2 (5 points) on the season.
Urikad Matei Kok exploded for 47 points, including three aces, while Kim Ji-han contributed 20 points.
Korean Air was led by Lincoln Williams’ 23 points and Kwak Seung-seok’s 17, but it was not enough as the team lost.
Korean Air took the first set with a dominant performance.
After taking an early 9-5 lead, Korean Air went on a 17-9 run thanks to Kwak Seung-seok’s back attack
and Lincoln’s open offense. Korean Air then scored three straight points to reach the 20-point mark and
closed out the set with a block by Lee Soo-hwang and a quick open by Lim Dong-hyuk.
Korean Air had the last laugh in the second set.
They scored three consecutive points at 9-9 and held the lead until the midway point. However, they were
unable to stop the opponent’s offense and surrendered the lead and faced a 22-24 set point.
Korean Air completed the deuce with kills from Jeong Jung-yong and Lincoln in the crisis and then played
a seesaw game with their opponents, exchanging eight points apiece. An open attack by Jung made it
33-32 and a missed attack by Urikhad Mattei gave Korean Air the set.
Taking the lead in the third set, Woori Card took a 17-15 lead after an open attack from Matei and a back-
attack from Kim Ji-han, but Korean Air rallied to take a 24-24 deuce.
Woori Card came out firing on all cylinders on match point, with Matei and Kim Ji-han coming out on fire,
and Matei firing a back-attack to take the set at 31-30.
After dominating the fourth set, Woori Card leveled the score.
After scoring three straight points at 6-4, URICAD went on a 16-8 run midway through the set. From
there, Matei and Kim Ji-han continued to score points to push the match to a fifth set.
Woori Card opened the fifth set with a back-attack by Matei, who combined a block by Park Jin-woo and
a quick open by Kim Ji-han to take a 10-7 lead.
Korean Air tied the score at 15-15, but Matei’s back-attack sealed the win and Han Tae-joon’s block ended the match.
Hyundai E&C won the women’s match against Korea Expressway Corporation 3-1 (19-25 25-21 25-23 25-
22) in straight sets at Suwon Indoor Gymnasium.
With the victory, Hyundai E&C won its third game in a row (one loss) and moved into first place with 10
points. It also extended their winning streak to two games.
Korea Expressway Corporation (1 point), which was looking for its first win of the season, dropped its
opening three games in a row.
Hyundai E&C’s Yang Hyo-jin led the way with 23 points, while Moma Basoko contributed 22 points.
Korea Expressway Corporation’s Vanya Vukirich and Tanacha Suksot battled hard with 25 and 16 points,
respectively, but were unable to seal the win.
Hyundai E&C had a 9-7 advantage in blocking and a 42.4 percent attacking success rate compared to 40.5 percent for KDOT.
After taking the first set, KDOT dropped sets two through four to postpone their first win of the season.
They committed 23 errors, three more than their opponents. 스포츠토토맨