“No matter how good your offensive success rate is, you can only win if you score goals in close games and pinch situations. Kim Yeon-kyung hit a lot of those balls for Heungkuk Life.”
The Jungkwanjang Red Sparks ended their three-game winning streak with a 1-3 (21-25, 25-19, 23-25, 19-25) set loss against the Heungkook Life Pink Spiders in the fifth round of the Dodram 2023-2024 V-League at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon, South Korea, on Monday.
Coach Ko Hee-jin said in a post-match interview, “I’m a little disappointed with the result. It would have been better for us in the ranking race if we could have gotten even one point, but we have a more important match against Korea Expressway Corporation coming up. The players might be down, 토토 but we will quickly change the atmosphere and prepare for the next match.”
In a pre-match interview, Ko said, “Willow is important today, but I think Reina will be the key to watch. It’s important to shake her off her serve and shut her down,” Goh said, emphasizing the importance of containing her. In the end, Reyna only scored 14 points (29.2 percent offense) on the night. However, that didn’t stop Kim from having a big night with 24 points (51.1% attack percentage).
“Honestly, she’s hard to stop. She’s a great player,” said coach Ko Hee-jin before the game. “Reyna had a poor offensive percentage and shaky reception. But I think we struggled with our attacking decisions. No matter how good your attacking percentage is, you can only win if you can score points in game-winning and pinch situations. Heungkuk Life hit a lot of such balls from Kim Yeon-kyung. And we were too inaccurate in our connection. We need to improve on that and I think we can play better next time,” he said.
Heungkuk Life head coach Marcello Abondanza said, “I can’t say I played my best game. But he alone had 46 receptions and hit the ball 48 times. I think she did her best. She didn’t start well, but she finished well,” praised Reina.
Jungkwanjang’s foreign player duo, Mega and Jia, had a strong showing in this game. Mega had a monster game with 24 points (45.8% offensive percentage) and Jia chipped in with 20 points (36.5% offensive percentage), but they were unable to prevent the team from losing.
Coach Ko Hee-jin commented on Mega and Jia’s physical fitness, saying, “They are managing their physical fitness with consideration for training. It’s the fifth round now, and they had enough rest during the All-Star break. I don’t think they have any fitness problems.”
Coach Ko Hee-jin, who has been rotating setters Yeom Hye-sun and Kim Chae-na, said, “Right now, I’m thinking about the league, but I’m also thinking about the short-term and changing my tactics. Yeom Hye-sun is weak in blocker coverage, but Lee Sun-woo can compensate for that if she comes in. However, she can only block one point blocker. This is something we need to continue to work on,” he explained.
