V League heats up as Pink Spiders challenge Hillstate for first place

The Incheon Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders have a chance of catching up with league leaders Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction as the two teams face off on Tuesday.

Jelena Mladjenovic, left, of the Incheon Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders attacks during a V League game against Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Jan. 11. [NEWS1]

The Incheon Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders have a chance of catching up with league leaders Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction as the two teams face off on Tuesday.

The Pink Spiders have seen some success this season with 19 wins recorded so far out of 25 matches, but they have failed to take the No.1 spot on the table as they lost three out of four games against their biggest competitor Hillstate.

Since the gap with the league leaders is down to three points as of Monday, the Incheon side will need to earn three points to tie with Hillstate on points.

In volleyball, the margin of victory determines how many points a team takes from the game, with a 3-0 or 3-1 win earning three points and a win by any other margin earning two points. If the score ends 3-2, the losing team also takes one point from the game.

The Pink Spiders need a 3-0 or 3-1 win over Hillstate to give them 20 wins on the season, one fewer than the Suwon side, but enough to tie them on 60 points.

The three points will not put the Pink Spiders immediately above Hillstate on the table, however, because V League rule stipulates that when two teams tie on points, the team with more wins ranks higher.

The Pink Spiders have been particularly weak against the Suwon side as they only recorded one victory against Hillstate, 3-1 on Dec. 29 last year. When the two sides faced off in Incheon last month, Hillstate took the win, 3-2.

Before their first victory of the season against Hillstate, they had lost twice with a set score of 3-1 and 3-0.

The Pink Spiders are in good shape ahead of Tuesday’s game. They recorded a perfect 3-0 victory against Daejeon Korean Ginseng Corporation last Friday, with Kim Yeon-koung scoring 25 points and Jelena Mladjenovic scoring 16.

The league leaders are also in good form, having grabbed a perfect 3-0 victory over the GS Caltex Seoul KIXX last Thursday. They have continued to be threatening even without key player Yaasemeen Bedart-Ghani, who has missed multiple matches due to a back injury.

The Suwon side will obviously not be an easy opponent this time either as they will want to retain their position on the table.

The Pink Spiders and Hillstate will face off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Suwon Gymnasium in Suwon, Gyeonggi.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]