Heungkuk Life Insurance's challenge to record the longest winning streak in professional volleyball women's team has been blocked by the articles of association. Heungkuk Life Insurance suffered a painful defeat amid controversy over the mockery of the opponent's coach by a foreign coach.
Heungkuk Life lost to Jeong Kwan-jang by a score of one to three (22-25 23-25 25-14 22-25) in the women's home match of the Dodram 2024-2025 V-League at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Thursday. The team's opening streak stopped at 14 matches.
If Heungkuk Life had won on the day, it would have been the longest winning streak for the women's team in history. It could match Hyundai Engineering & Construction's 15 consecutive wins in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons.
However, the team failed to overcome Chung's spirit. Heungkuk Life Insurance had its first loss of the season (14 wins) and remained in the 40th place. It failed to widen its gap with second-place Hyundai Engineering & Construction (11 wins, 4 losses, 34 points).
He has continued to win five consecutive games by preventing Heungkuk Life from winning consecutive games. He maintained the third place with nine wins and six losses and 26 points. He is four points shorter than IBK Industrial Bank (8 wins and six losses), which has played one less game.
Heungkuk Life was unstable from the first set. With the score tied 22 to 20, Chung Ho-young's fastball and Bukirich's hit allowed the team to tie the game, and Tutuku's attack was blocked by Bukirich's block, giving up a come-from-behind score. Chung gained the upper hand by banking on his Libero yellow hand-to-hand defense and Bukirich's hard hit.
In the second set as well, Heungkuk Life took the lead thanks to Kim Yeon-koung's attack from the 22nd to 22nd. However, the team failed to block Bukiric's consecutive hitting spree, and lost even the second set. Bukiric scored a whopping 11 points with a 61.11 percent attack rate in the second set.
Heungkuk Life also fought back and won the third set by an 11-point margin. However, Jeong finished the match in the fourth set. He succeeded in giving rest to key players including Bukirich, Mega, and Yeom Hye-sun at the beginning of the third set. With a hard hit by Bukirich, Jeong turned the game around 23 to 21, and then suffered a strong hit by Mega.
Bukirich scored the most 34 points on the day, including three blockings. Mega also contributed to the victory with 20 points.
Heungkuk Life had Kim Yeon-koung's attack success rate of 50 percent and scored a team-high 26 points. However, it was painful that Tutku, who had to perform both shots, only scored 10 points with an attack success rate of less than 20 percent.
In addition, controversy arose over senior coach Daniele Turino's mockery of Chung Kwan-jang and Ko Hee-jin. In the second set, when Chung was leading 19 to 17, he called "Operation Time," but Daniele came running and said something to coach Ko. A staff member of Heungkuk Life Insurance hurriedly restrained Daniele, but the situation had already happened.
Coach Koh looked puzzled and smiled dumbfounded. He then complained to the judges.
"If you are a leader, you may be dissatisfied with the referee's decision and appeal to him," SBS Sports Commentator Cha Sang-hyun said. "However, you should not do such a thing to the opposing team's coach." For Heungkuk Life, it was a painful day to lose the game and lose in manners.
The men's OK Savings Bank raised hopes for the elimination. At a home game held at Sangnoksu Gymnasium in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, the team beat Woori Card with a set score of 3 to 0 (25-23 25-17 25-23).
OK Savings Bank, which posted four wins and 11 losses, tied with KB Insurance at sixth place with 15 points. KB Insurance, however, had five wins and nine losses and played one less game.
Chris recorded triple crowns (blocking, sub-scoring, and rear-end attacks) including three blocks, three serve aces, and six rear-end attacks, displaying his stellar performance in 15 games. Asian quarter Ki Sung-long also posted a team-high 16 points with a 68.18 percent attack rate. 안전놀이터
Ali scored 16 points and Nikolic added 14 points, but failed to prevent the team from losing. The team remained at 21 points, failing to widen its gap with the fourth-ranked Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (20 points).