Justice Scores 16 Points as Heungkuk Life Insurance Defeats SOOP to Claim 3rd Consecutive Cup Win

Women's professional volleyball team Heungkuk Life Insurance swept the new team SOOP, finishing the cup tournament group stage with an undefeated record.

Heungkuk Life Insurance defeated SOOP 3-0 (25-12, 25-20, 25-19) in the women's Group A match of the 2026 Yeosu NH Nonghyup Cup Pro Volleyball Tournament held at Jinnam Gymnasium in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, on the 15th.

Having secured an early berth in the semifinals by successively defeating JungKwanJang (3-1) on the 11th and IBK Industrial Bank (3-2) on the 13th, Heungkuk Life Insurance claimed first place in Group A with three straight wins.

Heungkuk Life Insurance will compete against the runner-up of Group B on the 17th for a spot in the finals.

On the other hand, SOOP, which suffered consecutive 0-3 losses to IBK Industrial Bank and JungKwanJang, finished the tournament with three losses without winning a single set.

Their quest for their first official win since foundation was postponed to another opportunity.

For Heungkuk Life Insurance, Justice Yakuci (registered name Justice) led the attack with a game-high 16 points.

Pyo Seung-ju added 10 points, while Jung Ho-young and Im Hye-rim contributed 8 points each.

Heungkuk Life Insurance significantly outperformed SOOP in attack success rate at 48.54% compared to SOOP's 29.52%.

For SOOP, Ko Eui-jung fought hard with 10 points, and Yizhuo contributed 9 points.

Heungkuk Life Insurance pressed their opponents right from the first set.

Leading 5-4, they reeled off 8 consecutive points, combining Jung Ho-young's block and Im Hye-rim's service ace to pull ahead 13-4.

Comfortably ahead, Heungkuk Life Insurance closed out the first set with Kim Da-eun's quick open.

In the second set, they scored 5 straight points from a 5-4 lead to stretch the gap to 10-4.

Although they were later pursued to 22-20, they secured the remaining 3 points with Pyo Seung-ju's open attack and consecutive attacking errors by the opponent, taking the second set as well.

In the third set at 11-9, they scored 4 consecutive points to widen the margin.

Maintaining their lead, Heungkuk Life Insurance put an end to the match at 24-19 with Moon Ji-yoon's back-row attack.

Later today at 7:00 PM at the same venue, IBK Industrial Bank and JungKwanJang, both tied at 1 win and 1 loss, will face each other for the remaining semifinal ticket in Group A.

(Photo courtesy of Korea Volleyball Federation, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.