South Korea Women’s Volleyball picked up a valuable second win at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2024.
The Fernando Morales-led Korea Women’s Volleyball Team defeated France 3-2 (25-23 21-25 17-25 25-22 15-13) in straight sets in the second match of Week 3 at the West Nippon Exhibition Center in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan on Wednesday.
South Korea, who clawed their way out of the VNL 30-game losing streak tunnel with a 3-1 victory over Thailand in the final match of Week 1, fell to Bulgaria 2-3 in the first match of Week 2 to level the series at three points apiece. With their second win of the day, Korea improved to 2-8, 6-6, and moved from 14th to 12th place among the 16 nations competing in the tournament. South Korea, 스포츠토토사이트 which earned 8.67 FIVB Ranking Points, moved up from 39th to 34th.
South Korea has now won a set and earned a point in six matches since the match against Bulgaria. South Korea will wrap up this year’s VNL Qualifiers with matches against Italy on Thursday and the Netherlands on Saturday.
France, which is ranked 20 spots higher than Korea (39th in the FIVB World Rankings) but was ranked 15th, one spot lower than Korea until the previous day, had a 1-9 record and five points in the VNL.
It was not easy to win a single set, but the French were persistent and had the last laugh. After jumping out to a 15-8 lead midway through the first set thanks to service aces from setter Kim Dae-in and Jung Jung-yoon (Hyundai E&C), the Koreans were in a hurry as France’s hitting percentage and errors pushed the score past 20 points. However, Jeong Ji-yoon scored a quick open right side kill at 21-20 and then Lee Da-hyun (Hyundai E&C) converted a center kill at 24-23 to secure the first set.
After dropping the second and third sets to France’s powerful offense with their height, Korea battled back to take the fourth set. At the end of the fourth set, Moon Ji-yoon (GS Caltex) attacked and Pyo Seung-ju (Jung Kwan-jang) hit for a 24-22 set point before Lee Da-hyun scored a direct kill on Pyo’s serve to force the match into a fifth set.
The fifth set was another tightly contested affair, with Korea tying the score at 12-12 when Moon Ji-yoon’s attack was ruled a touchdown after a video review. Korea then had match point at 13-13 when Pyo Seung-Joo’s serve from France sailed over the net to give Korea the match point, but Pyo Seung-Joo seized the momentum and ended the match with a powerful service ace.
South Korea led France 14-9 in blocking points and 8-3 in service points. Jung Jung-yoon led the offense with 20 points, while Kang So-hwi (18), Jung Ho-young (12), and Lee Da-hyun (10) also scored in double figures.