Seoul, Korea, August 22, 2019 – Backed by passionate home fans cheering all the way, hosts Korea showcased their brilliant form to rout Chinese Taipei in thrilling three-setter 25-22 25-13 25-19 in their Top 8 playoff match in Pool E of the 20th Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship at Jamsil Indoor Stadium on Thursday to keep their hopes of reaching semi-finals alive.
The convincing win has carried the host side to the top of the Pool E standing with 6 points from two straight wins against Iran and Chinese Taipei. Korea will next take on Thailand in their last Pool E clash on Friday.
In the first set, Korea initially gained the upper hand, using an excellent combination attacks from Kim Heejin’s spikes and Lee Jaeyoung’s powerful back-row attacks. Ace spiker Kim Yeonkoung’s height advantage on spectacular attacks and Kim Suji’s solid blocks made much of the impact for the hosts’ early 6-2 lead. Chinese Taipei tried their best to narrow the gap, with Tseng Wan-Ling on fire with her exceptional spikes. They fought back hard with several effective attacks to level it at 13-13. Kim Yeonkoung and Lee Jaeyong brought Korea back on track to lead 16-14 and after that, Kim Heejin joined the superb duo in tearing the Chinese Taipei’s defence apart with her aggressive attacks to help Korea take the hard-fought set 25-22.
Korea continued their sparkling form to stay in front with a 2-point advantage at 8-6 in the second set, but Chinese Taipei gradually pulled their game together and hit back bravely. Still, the Korea’s great experience and form proved them a cut above the smaller-built rivals. Korea claimed the set 25-13.
The host side still excelled defensively and offensively in the third set. As Chinese Taipei could not stop Kim Yeonkoung’s onslaughts, their attacks also had a tough going with the hosts’ impenetrable defence, allowing them difficulties to score. Korea still played well at the final assault with well-placed serves from Yeum Hyeseon and Kim Yeonkoung’s powerful crosscourt spikes. Korea captured the set 25-19 and match.
Korea head coach Stefano Lavarini from Italy said after the match, “I’m quite satisfied with my players’ performance. We counter-attacked well after we couldn’t earn some crucial points. We regained our form in the third set which is good point, so I’m quite satisfied although not totally satisfied. I decided to replace not only the setter but also all players depending on their conditions and plots of the game of the day. Against strong Thailand tomorrow, we don’t use special strategies. Instead, we will play our form as we usually do.”
Yeum Hyeseon, as a Korean rookie of this competition, expressed her satisfaction over the match, “This game was the Top 8 playoffs, and that made me a little bit nervous. But I had to overcome all the conditions in the match. I kept it trying and fortunately, it worked well.”
Captain Kim Yeonkoung, who chipped in with 17 points for Korea, said, “There is kind of rhythm in matches, so the match goes up and down. As we are going to meet strong team in next round, my colleagues and I will try to prepare ourselves well to cover that down side as fast as we can.”
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