The battle for third place in the professional volleyball rankings is heating up as we head into spring volleyball.
On the men’s side, the rise of teams hovering at the bottom of the standings has been evident, while on the women’s side, the battle for third place under the two-power system is in full swing.
On the men’s side, there are signs of cracks in the three-team system that has been in place since the start of the tournament.
As of the 10th, Woori Card Wooriwon is in first place (42-15 W-6 L).
They are followed by the Samsung Fire Blue Force (14-7) and Korean Air Jumbos (12-10), both with 38 points.
Then there’s the Hyundai Capital Skywalkers.
After languishing in sixth place through the third round, the Skywalkers have won five straight games to sit in fourth place (31-9 W-L) since acting coach Jin Soon-ki took over last month.
A 3-0 or 3-1 set win against Korean Air on Wednesday will give the team the green light to advance to spring volleyball.
Professional volleyball plays semi-playoff matches if the difference between the third and fourth place in the regular season is three points or less. 카지노사이트777
Women’s volleyball is shaping up to be a two-horse race between Hyundai E&C Hillstate (50-16, 5-5) and Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders (47-17, 5-5).
Both teams are already more than 10 points ahead of the mid-table teams.
G-Scalpex, which is desperate to break into the 40-point range, and IBK, which has been steadily racking up wins lately, will likely be fighting for the spring volleyball ticket until the end of the season.
In contrast to the tightening of the competition in the mid-table, rebounding from the bottom of the standings is unlikely to be easy.
The men’s bottom-ranked KB Insurance Stars (17-4 W-18 L) snapped a six-game losing streak with a win over Korean Air on Sept. 9, but the gap between them and sixth-ranked KEPCO Big Storm (29-10 W-11 L) is significant.
The bottom-ranked Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers (7-2 W19 L) have now lost 14 straight games.
They are on the verge of finishing last for the third consecutive season.