South Korea claims first win in Pool C by edging out Italy in five sets – Volleyball news
With match-high 23 points from Kim Jeong-Hwan, South Korea stamped 3-2 win over Italy in the last match of second leg of the 2012 FIVB World League on Sunday.
Italians showed power in the first two sets and posted 25-22 and 26-24, which moved them to 2-0 lead in the match.
However, the Koreans made a great comeback and claimed following three sets in row (26-24, 25-15, and 15-11).
French City Lyon hosted the match, while more than 600 people came over to witness the performance. Korea finally managed to see the face of victory after five consecutive losses in the tournament. Korea now stands with 1-5 record, which is a good sign of
improvement. Pool C teams are scheduled to take a trip to South Korea in third week of the tournament. Therefore, Korea will have the support of local fans and advantage of playing at home in the coming week.
The head coach Park Ki-won is determined to delight the home fans with better performance in the forthcoming matches.
Speaking of the match, the duo of Jeong-Hwan and Song Myung-geun proved very effective for Korea. Both of them went into double figure score and enabled Korea to win the match. On the other hand, Italy’s Gabriele Maruotti put up huge effort in the match.
He contributed team-high 16 points in the loss.
Italy caught a really good start in the match. Powerful serves and long cross court shots helped the team to build a lead at the first technical timeout. On the other hand, Korea trailed behind and remained in chase up till the set points. Italy closed opening
frame with three points and went on front, 1-0.
Korea hit back forcefully in the second set and picked up an early lead. Italy lagged behind for better time in the second set but eventually went up after the second TTO. Thereafter, Italians played fast and added another set-win to their count.
Italy opened third set in an impressive way and it seemed as if the match was going to end in straight sets. Nonetheless, it was not the case at all. Koreans got their lost form back and captured third set. Success in third set provided a jumpstart to Korea
and the team secured next two sets, which sent Italy to 2-3 defeat in the match.
“We have very bad conditions with players injured for this week-end. I’m very happy for this win vs Italy. Maybe one or two players will enter the team in Korea for the next round,” said Korean coach Park Ki-won after the match.
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