Hardened by hardship, Heungkuk Life responded to its fans’ support with a victory. However, there was more disappointment than satisfaction.
Heungkuk Life, led by head coach Marcello Abondanza, earned three points in the first round of the Dodram 2023-2024 V-League Women’s Division with a 3-1 (26-24 25-15 25-19 28-26) set victory over IBK Sangsan Bank at the Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Thursday.
The team’s star player, Yelena Mrazenovic (registered name Yelena), was the top scorer with 19 points, while Kim Yeon-kyung and Kim Mi-yeon also lived up to the team’s expectations with 17 and 11 points, respectively. Reina Tokoku (registered name Reina), who was once again transformed into a middle blocker after the previous match, also contributed nine points. In addition, Park Eun-seo, who was inserted as a one-point server in the fourth set, shook up the opponent’s receiving line with her sharp serves.
However, when looking at the match, there were a few things to be disappointed with other than the fact that the team had more service aces (9) than their opponents (3), especially the lack of concentration of the players as they committed 32 unforced errors.
‘Ace’ Kim Yeon-kyung was no exception. At 16-18 in the middle of the fourth set, Heungkuk Life conceded another point due to a miscommunication in defense following Kim’s invasion of the center line, and at 16-20, Kim committed an error while trying to pass the ball to the third level. The gap between the two teams quickly widened to 16-21 and the match seemed to be heading to a fifth set.
However, at 17-21, Park Eun-seo stepped on the court and served an ace, followed by back-to-back points from Reina and an open attack from Kim Yeon-kyung, and the gap completely disappeared. Eventually, Heungkuk Life turned the tide and closed out the match at 26-26 with a quick open from Kim Yeon-kyung and a kill from Brittany Abecrombie (registered name Abecrombie).
After the game, Coach Abondanza said, “Strangely enough, we had a good performance against GS Caltex on March 31, but we couldn’t maintain that performance in today’s game. I think we need to find a way to keep it up, both mentally and consistently,” he said, “I think we’re losing a little bit of focus in each moment. “I think it’s the ups and downs of being too calm or not being focused when things aren’t going the way I want them to,” he said, “and I think (a lot of errors) contribute to that. It could be technical, but I think it basically comes down to the concentration of the toss and the defense.”
The veterans didn’t disagree. Kim Yeon-kyung, who sat in the interview room with Reina and Park Eun-seo, said, “Overall, I don’t think we played well at all. I think there were parts of the team that were shaky, and it was not an easy game in many ways,” she recalled.
Reina, who was substituted as a middle blocker instead of an outside hitter for the second game in a row, said, “We talked a lot about refocusing because we thought the team was losing in the same pattern. There were some games that we turned over as we continued to play, so we decided to do what we were confident in,” she said. “There were some parts where we confused the team with awkward plays because we weren’t used to the position, so we paid a lot of attention to the defense.”
Park Eun-seo, the one-point server who turned the tide, said, “I think I was trying to hit the serve that the coach wanted, and I went in with the mindset of trying to get at least one ball. I think I practiced a lot of serving and defense in order to contribute to the team in some way.” “It feels good to be on the court. I feel like I’m still learning, so I want to do something, and (among other things) I want to play a strong serve.”
Although Heungkuk Sinsaeng secured victories in all five matches except for the 2-3 loss in the deciding set, the team is still not satisfied. “I finished the first round in first place because I managed my points well, but my performance was too good when I was playing well and too bad when I was playing poorly, so I think I need to work on that. Since I’m still playing, I’ll have to think about my physical fitness for the rest of the matches,” she said. 아톰카지노 주소
