OK Financial Group, led by Leonardo Leyva Martinez (nicknamed Leo), defeated Woori Card in a close full-set match.
OK Financial Group won the Dodram 2023-2024 V-League Men’s Division 3-2 (25-19 28-30 20-25 25-21 15-7) against Woori Card at Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul on Monday. With the narrow victory, OK Financial Group (52 points, 18 wins, 14 losses) increased the gap between them and fourth-place KEPCO (47 points, 16 wins, 16 losses) to five points and boosted their chances of qualifying for the ‘Spring Volleyball’. Leo, who had three service aces, scored a team-high 36 points, while Shin Shin-jin (19 points) and Bayarsaihan Bassu (13 points) added double-digit points.
OK Financial Group took the first set behind Leo’s strong serve. After trailing Woori Card until the midway point, OK Financial Group changed the momentum on Leo’s serve. At 13-14, Leo shook off Woori Card’s Kim Ji-han’s reception with a spike serve to take control of the offense and tied the game with a follow-up attack from Shin Seong-jin. Leo then interrupted another attacking opportunity with a strong serve to Artem Susheko, and after a back-and-forth battle, Shin took the lead with a back-attack. OK Financial Group did not relinquish the lead and ended the first set with a comfortable margin.
OK Financial Group failed to protect its seven-point advantage in the second set. After taking a 16-9 lead by controlling the attacks of foreign attacker Artem and ‘Korean ace’ Kim Ji-han, OK Financial Group was unable to stop Song Myung-geun and Han Sung-jung, who were substituted for them, and lost the set in a deuce-filled match. After giving up the momentum, OK Financial Group lost the third set helplessly. Their reception was shaky, exposing their defensive insecurities, and they couldn’t find any offensive avenues using Leo.
OK Financial Group rallied back in the fourth set, and once again, Leo was the ‘fixer’. Trailing 5-9 in the first set, Leo earned the serve and hit two service aces to keep his opponent close, and OK Financial Group managed to tie the set. With the momentum revitalized, OK Financial Group also revitalized Song Hee-chae’s offense, which had been quiet for a while, and tied the set.
The winner of the fifth set was OK Financial Group, who continued their upward trend. Leo and Song Hee-chae scored back-to-back kills to take the lead early on, and OK Financial 사설토토 Group reached match point at 13-7 with a backhand attack from Shin Seong-jin, and sealed the match with an opponent attack error. For Woori Card, Song Myung-geun, who came off the bench, struggled with 25 points, but could not make up for the absence of Artem and others. With the one point, Woori Card (60-20-11) remained in second place, four points behind leader Korean Air with one less game played.
Meanwhile, in the women’s division, leader Hyundai E&C swept GS Caltex 3-0 (25-19 25-21 25-23) at home in Suwon. With 72 points (24 wins, 7 losses), Hyundai E&C widened the gap to five points over second-place Heungkuk Life (67 points, 24 wins, 7 losses). Fourth-ranked GS Caltex, desperate for points to advance to the Spring Volleyball, failed to reduce the gap with third-ranked Jungkwanjang (8 points) by a single point.