The myth of the semifinals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has become a thing of the past. After the retirement of Kim Yeon-kyung (Heungkuk Life Insurance) and Yang Hyo-jin (Hyundai E&C) from the national team, Korean women’s volleyball is walking an endless downhill road.
The Korean women’s volleyball team, led by coach Cesar Hernández Gonzalez, set score 0 in the 3rd match of the 2nd week of the 2023 International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Volleyball Nations League (VNL) against Croatia held at the Nielsen Nelson Arena in Brasilia, Brazil on the 17th (Korean time). -3 (23-25, 21-25, 14-25) defeated.
Last year, he was the only one-win opponent… Croatia was sacrificed for one winThe opponent is ranked 30th in the world. Korea had a slight advantage at 27th. Even Croatia is also a team that has not won this tournament so far, so the shock wave is even bigger.
On the 16th, the Netherlands, which had been running all losses, took the victory and tasted the humiliation of being the victim of Croatia’s one win in the face-to-face match for last place. Last year, they had the worst record in the VNL, losing 12 straight times, but it was a more painful defeat because Croatia was the only team to win in an international competition.
Korea, who failed to win a single set in the 7 matches in this tournament and lost all the matches, fell into a swamp of 19 consecutive losses in the VNL since last year.
5 runs in a row at the end of the 1st set, I can’t be so lethargic…The offensive score was equal at 36-37, but it was pushed to 5-14 in blocking and 10-18 in scoring due to the opponent’s mistake.
On this day, Korea started Pyo Seung-joo and Park Jung-ah as outside heaters, Moon Ji-yoon as apposite spiker, Jung Ho-yeong and Lee Da-hyun as middle blockers, Yeom Hye-seon as setter, and Moon Jeong-won as libero. Kang So-hui, Kim Da-eun먹튀검증, and Kim Ji-won, who started the day before, started the game from the bench.
The first set was an opportunity. I wondered if I would take a 23-20 lead until the second half and win a set for the first time in this tournament. However, the center was pierced by the opponent, and Jung Ho-young’s attack was blocked and chased by 1 point. Following Moon Ji-yoon’s offense, they conceded consecutive runs to Croatia and gave up the first set.
Korea, which lost 5 runs in a row before the set, couldn’t use much effort after that. In the second set, they led 14-13, but collapsed after four consecutive runs, and in the third set, the score gap widened from the beginning, and they were eventually defeated.
Middle blocker Jeong Ho-young (KGC Ginseng Corporation) scored 10 points and outside heater Pyo Seung-ju (IBK Industrial Bank) led the attack with 9 points, but even Croatia felt like a wall. It was a game that was pushed overall, starting with a high point, such as giving 18 points to opponent middle blocker Samadan Martina.
The national team will finish the second week schedule with the match against Germany on the morning of the 19th. Germany is a strong team with a record of 5 wins and 1 loss. It is a confrontation that seems far from expecting an unexpected change. The key question is whether Korea, which has been shut out for seven consecutive games, can win even one set.
The national team returning home after the match against Germany will start on the 27th at Seosuwon Chilbo Gymnasium in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do. Play a weekly race. It raises expectations that they will be able to win a desperate victory as they have a match in front of many fans in Korea.