Hillstate beat Pink Spiders to stay No. 1 with fragile lead

Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate beat second-place Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders last week to keep their No. 1 spot. But Hillstate took a loss and the Pink Spiders secured a win after their clash, keeping the race hot.

Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate's Laetitia Moma Bassoko, right, attacks during a V League game against the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate beat second-place Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders last week to keep their No. 1 spot. But Hillstate took a loss and the Pink Spiders secured a win after their clash, keeping the V League race hot.

Hillstate snatched the frontrunner position from the Pink Spiders on Dec. 12, ending the Spiders' nine game winning streak.

Hillstate faced the Incheon side again on their opponents' turf a week later on Dec. 20, which would determine whether Hillstate retained or ceded the top spot. The league leaders rose to the occasion, solidifying their postion over the Pink Spiders with a 3-1 win.

The Pink Spiders grabbed the first set 25-23, but it was all about Hillstate afterward, with the Suwon side winning the second set 25-23, third set 25-16 and fourth set 25-20.

Outside hitter Laetitia Moma Bassoko’s impact was visible again in Wednesday’s game, as she was Hillstate’s top scorer with 24 points alone.

Moma has led the team’s attack so far this season, scoring 401 points as the league’s seventh-top scorer as of press time Monday.

Hillstate’s win against the Pink Spiders was the team’s first victory over the Incheon side this season, having recorded two 3-2 losses before.

That win also extended the league leaders’ winning streak to nine games, but they could not stretch it further after a 3-2 loss to the Hwaseong IBK Altos on Saturday.

The Pink Spiders, on the other hand, saw redemption with a 3-1 win against the Daejeon Jung Kwang Jang Red Sparks on Sunday, bouncing back from two straight losses to Gimcheon Korea Expressway Hi-Pass and Hillstate.

Down in the middle of the table, third-place GS Caltex Seoul Kixx remained in their position with a 3-1 victory over the Red Sparks on Thursday.

Fifth-place Red Sparks have struggled recently, having recorded three straight losses since Dec. 16.

Fourth-place Altos, meanwhile, have been on a solid run having secured five wins in the past six games this month.

Opposite hitter Brittany Abercrombie’s remarkable form is partly to thank for the Altos' recent success.

She is the league’s top scorer with 491 points as of Monday and has scored a significant amount of points in many games alone, including Saturday’s clash against Hillstate during which she managed 36 points.

The bottom two teams — sixth-place Hi-Pass and last-place Gwangju AI Peppers — met on Friday, and Hi-Pass managed a 3-2 win after a fierce contest.

Both sides have struggled so far this season, with Hi-Pass having recorded four wins and 12 losses and the Peppers having secured only two wins out of 17 games.

Hi-Pass’s grapple comes perhaps as a bigger surprise, as they were last season’s championship winners, while the Peppers have finished as the last-place team for the past two seasons.

The Gwangju side has claimed only eight wins in the past two seasons, after their founding in 2021.

The V League will continue this week. Hi-Pass was due to face the Kixx at home later in the afternoon as of press time Monday.

The Altos will then clash with league leaders Hillstate again in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi on Wednesday.

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