Hyundai, Bull’s-eye on V5

The veteran trio of Hyundai`s women volleyball team-- Koo Min-jung (30), Jang Soh-hyun (30), Kang Hye-mi (30)--stood on the court with pale faces, in fact rather yellow.

The situation was a result of the players participating in all the tour games starting from last December and exerting themselves up to their last bit of strength. The players, who mentioned that they couldn`t even stand up, completed their mission which was beyond their strength with all of their efforts in the fifth match of the KT&G V Tour Women`s Volleyball Championship.

The Hyundai team, packed with a combative spirit led by the veterans, squashed the ambition of the Korean Freeway team with a set score of 3-1(20-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-18) and clinched the winning trophy with three wins and two losses.

The Hyundai team, which swept all six titles this season, has achieved five straight championships in the winter league since 2000. The finalist, Korean Freeway team, which ended up as the runner-up last year, also showed off great strength which dragged up to the fifth match up and promised to win the title for the coming season.

Until the fourth round, the two teams were equally matched with two wins respectively, but it was Hyundai’s dignity which received the spotlight in the final round.

It seemed like victory was on the Korean Freeway’s side when the Hyundai team gave up the first set. Left front striker of Hyundai, Yoon Hye-sook, lost control with a sprained ankle on the Busan sixth tour and was shut off from the opponents block, and center Lee Myung-Hee`s poor performance lead to a 20-25 set loss.

The wild card of substituting Lee Sun-joo (13 points) and Park Sun-mi (nine points) in the second set turned out to be a right move. Lee Sun-joo, the back-up to Yoon Hye-Sook, came off the bench periodically and revived the team’s spirit with aggressive attacks. As the old-timers added their mastery skills in to the mix, the team captured the set, tying the Korean Freeway team with 14 points.

The Hyundai team swung upwards as Jang Soh-yun(18 points) and Jang Dae-young(15 points) implemented fast breaks and took down the Freeway’s defense line as Koo Min-Jungs left attacks were successful in winning two straight sets and the victory.

At the day of the match, Koo Min-jung scored the most on the team with 19 points and stood on top of the scoring list for the season while receiving her second MVP award in her career since 2000.

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com