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| Korean Air team / Photo by Paeng Hyun-jun |
On April 2 at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon, Korean Air beat Hyundai Capital 3-2 (25-19, 19-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11) in Game 1 of the Jin Air 2025–2026 V-League men’s championship series (best-of-five).
The win gives Korean Air the opening victory and a favorable 75% chance at the title based on historical trends: in V-League history, the Game 1 winner has gone on to claim the championship 15 of 20 times.
Hyundai Capital now starts the series trailing after a hard-fought loss.
Korean Air’s Lim Dong-hyeok finished as the match’s top scorer with 22 points and was the game’s difference-maker. New foreign signing Masso added 18 points.
For Hyundai Capital, Leo battled to 20 points but couldn’t deliver the win.
Korean Air commanded the early momentum in the opener, building a quick lead. Lim opened the scoring with a back attack, and Jung Ji-seok and Masso followed to push the score to 11-6. Hyundai Capital responded with quick attacks from Heo Su-bong and blocks from Bayarsaikhan and Leo, but costly errors at key moments kept them behind.
Korean Air extended the lead to 23-17 on a back attack by Jung and earned set point after an opponent error. Hyundai Capital countered with a Lim service error and a Leo ace, but Lim closed the set with another back attack for a 25-19 win.
Hyundai Capital answered in the second set. Leo and Kim Jin-young got off to a strong start, and with balanced scoring around Shin Ho-jin they built a lead. At 16-13, Shin and Leo combined for three straight points to push the score to 19-13 and seize control.
Lim tried to rally Korean Air, but Hyundai Capital maintained momentum through Heo Su-bong’s quick attacks and opponent errors, reaching 23-18. Even after conceding a back attack to Lim, Heo’s quick open and another error by Korean Air delivered consecutive points and a 25-19 set win.
Hyundai Capital carried that momentum into the third set. The teams battled back and forth until Hyundai Capital pulled ahead at 14-13, stringing together an opponent error, a Kim Jin-young service ace, and a Heo quick-open for three straight points.
Korean Air refused to fold. Masso, Lim and Jung combined for four points to tie it 17-17. The seesaw continued, and at 21-21 Leo and Heo produced consecutive scores to go up by two. Hyundai Capital closed out the set 25-23 when Heo finished a 24-23 set point with a quick open.
Korean Air evened the match in the fourth. Tied 5-5, Lim’s back-to-back attacks and a Masso score put them up 8-5. The set evolved into a push-and-pull affair, with Hyundai Capital trimming a 12-16 deficit to 15-16 on Leo’s back attack and an opponent error.
But Korean Air steadied. Masso’s block, Im Jae-young’s quick open, and another opponent error stretched the lead again. Hyundai Capital tried to rally through Leo, but Korean Air tightened up in the closing moments, producing three straight points—an opponent error, a quick attack by Kim Min-jae and a block by Jung—to take the fourth 25-20.
In the decisive fifth set, Korean Air closed it out. Leading 5-4, they extended to 7-4 on a Masso attack and a block by Jung Han-yong, then built the margin steadily.
Hyundai Capital kept fighting and got within one at 11-12 on Heo’s point and an opponent error. But Korean Air reached match point after a Lim back attack and another opponent error, and Masso finished it with a quick attack. Korean Air won the fifth set 15-11 to take Game 1 of the finals.
[Sports Today reporter Shin Seoyoung sports@stoo.com]
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