Even though the game didn’t go the way the team wanted, the head coach gave his players encouragement instead of reprimanding them. After an evenly matched game against leader Heungkuk Sinsung, IBK found hope in defeat.
IBK Business Bank finished the first round of the Dodram 2023-2024 V-League Women’s Division with a 2-4 record (5 points) after falling 1-3 (24-26 15-25 19-25 26-28) against Heungkuk Saengsang on Thursday at the Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon.
Brittany Abercrombie and Pyo Seung-ju combined for 20 points, while Hwang Min-kyung chipped in with seven. However, the team’s lack of rebounding proved to be their undoing.
In terms of power, Heungkuk Sinsaeng’s dominance was expected. Before the game, IBK head coach Kim Ho-cheol said, “Except for Heungkuk Sinsaeng, the other teams are similar in strength, and it will be a more difficult season because they can win or lose depending on their condition that day.” “The first game of the second round is also against Heungkuk Sinsaeng, so we have to play two games in a row, and I think the players will play a difficult game,” he said.
However, Kim added, “We will play to the best of our ability. The volleyball is round, and the players’ mood is good,” he said, wishing them well.
Whether or not the coach’s message got through to the players, IBK came back from a 2-8 deficit in the first set to win the deuce with a focused effort. Although Heungkuk Sinsang took the first set, IBK pushed back hard against Heungkuk Sinsang with Abercrombie.
In the second set, Abecrombie scored six kills and Pyo Seung-ju contributed with five kills, especially with a higher attack success rate (48%) than Heungkuk Life (30.3%).
After dropping the third set, IBK kept hope alive by holding the lead until midway through the fourth set, but giving up five points down 21-16 was painful. After reaching set point first at 24-23, a service error by Ponpun Gedpard (registered name Ponpun) and an attack error by Abercrombie set the tone for the rest of the match, which ended with an error by Abercrombie at 26-27.
While the team may have been disappointed that they couldn’t hold on to their five-point lead and get the win, coach Kim Ho-cheol was full of encouragement. “For a game like today, I think our players did a good job,” he said after the game, adding, “We didn’t get off to a good start because of our reception, but we overcame that. I think they did a good job.”
With Lim Hye-rim and Kim Hee-jin starting at middle blocker in place of Kim Hyun-jung, who needed a rest, Kim said, “(Lim) Hye-rim hasn’t come up yet, but she has a lot of potential. She did better than I thought. She’ll get better and better as she trains,” and “I thought about putting her in at the end because she’s not 100% yet, but it was too early and I didn’t want to put pressure on her. She went in once, so I think she’ll get better and better.” 아톰카지노 도메인
The reason why Kim Chae-won played so many minutes at libero instead of Shin Yeon-kyung was due to her physical condition. “I prepared (Kim) in advance because she had a bad cold and it was difficult for her to breathe, but I think it was a bit difficult for her at first,” said Kim Ho-cheol. “Nevertheless, she showed improvement from the fourth set onward,” he said positively.
After finishing the first round with 2 wins and 4 losses, IBK is dreaming of a leap forward. The team will play its first match of the second round against Heungkuk Life at Hwaseong Indoor Gymnasium on Aug. 8. “Actually, I thought we were doing well with 3 wins and 3 losses (in the first round), and I thought we would improve in the second and third rounds if we could manage our points,” Kim said. Even though setter Ponpun played a match in a week, it was not as good as we expected and as much as we practiced,” Kim said, adding, “If we play our best, we will have good results in the future. We had some sick players, but I’m grateful to them for trying their best.”