“We’re not a complete team yet. It was one of those matches where we were outplayed.”
Only one set has been dropped during the four-game winning streak. Hyundai Capital (28 points), which struggled at the bottom of the standings at the beginning of the season, is now within one point of fourth-place KEPCO (29 points).
Hyundai Capital won 3-0 in straight sets against KB Insurance at Uijeongbu Gymnasium on April 4. They have now overtaken OK Financial Group (27 points) in the standings. The team’s air was completely different.
It was not an easy match, with two or three consecutive deuce sets. Acting Hyundai Capital head coach Jin Soon-ki was not satisfied with the win.
“KB Insurance prepared well, and we didn’t do what we practiced. We had a lot of positional faults and net touches, and when they put Bijena on Ahmed, they kept attacking that side of the court.”
In clutch situations, the team trusted him more than Ahmed, and it paid off. On the day, he matched Ahmed’s 21 points to lead the team to victory. He shot 62.1 percent from the field. Acting head coach Jin Soon-ki said, “I ordered Kim Myung-kwan to go to the other side of the opponent’s blocking, not to get involved. She did a good job at the end,” said Jin.
“Setter is a very difficult position. You have to be judged not only on the choice you make, but also on the accuracy of that choice. I’m 100 percent behind and supportive of her choices. I told her to focus on her strengths and be confident in them, and to use what she doesn’t do well in training. He’s definitely more relaxed nowadays, and he seems to be working well with the attackers. She’s a solution player, so I told her to play a two-step attack whenever the situation calls for it.”
By now, they had climbed to the middle of the pack and were in the thick of the standings. Acting head coach Jin Soon-ki said, “The players said that of course we should play spring volleyball. Honestly, my goal for the rest of the season was not that high,” said Jin. “I think the players motivated themselves strongly. I think we can go to spring volleyball if we keep up the good mood. But I don’t want to put any pressure on them yet,” she emphasized.
“We have Heo Su-bong and Jeon Kwang-in. It’s a team that has the power to hit hard rather than play pretty volleyball. It depends on the situation, but we want to play aggressive volleyball in the future.”