Hillstate on brink of V League title with two regular season games to go

Second-place Pink Spiders suffered a surprise 3-1 loss to last-place Gwangju AI Peppers, leaving the Incheon side with no room for error before the end of the regular V League season.

Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate players [NEWS1]

V League leaders Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate stretched the points gap with second-place Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders to four points last week with two regular season games left to go.

Hillstate salvaged one point from a 3-2 loss to Gimcheon Korea Expressway Hi-Pass on March 6 before thrashing the Hwaseong IBK Altos 3-0 on Saturday to add three more points to their tally.

In the V League, 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. If the score ends 3-2, the winning team takes two points and the losing team earns one point.

The Pink Spiders could have inched further up the table if they'd won Friday’s game against last-place Gwangju Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers but instead suffered a 3-1 loss.

Gwangju Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers' Park Jeong-ah, left, attacks during a V League game against the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders at Pepper Stadium in Gwangju on Friday. [KOVO]

The win came as a surprise for the Peppers, who struggled throughout the 2023-24 season to record the longest single-season losing streak at 23 games. The Peppers claimed a huge victory despite parting ways with ex-head coach Joe Trinsey and dropping veteran libero Oh Ji-young from the squad last month.

Oh was handed a one-year suspension by the Korea Volleyball Federation for bullying her teammates.

In the middle of the table, third-place Daejeon Jung Kwan Jang Red Sparks, who locked in a spot in the postseason, trounced fourth-place GS Caltex Seoul Kixx 3-0 on Thursday.

With 10 points separating the Red Sparks and the Kixx at this point in the season, the Red Sparks will face the league runners-up in the playoffs, skipping over the so-called “semi-playoffs.” Semi-playoffs run only if the gap between the third and fourth-place teams is three points or fewer.

The winner of the playoffs will then face the league winners in the championship.

The regular season will end on March 17, with the postseason running through April.

The V League will continue this week with league leaders Hillstate facing the Pink Spiders at home on Tuesday. The Suwon side will lock in a league title if they win that game.

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