South Korea's women's volleyball team reached the final of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup after defeating Vietnam.
South Korea, ranked 33rd in the world, beat Vietnam (28th) 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-22) in the semifinal held at Candon City Arena in the Philippines on Wednesday. South Korea will face Taiwan (34th) for the championship trophy at 8 p.m. Thursday. South Korea had earlier beaten Taiwan 3-2 in a full-set thriller in the final group-stage match.
This victory carried significant meaning as it erased recent nightmares against Vietnam. In both the 2023 Asian Volleyball Championship and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games group stage, South Korea took the first two sets against Vietnam but then lost three straight sets to suffer comeback defeats. Those losses remained as scenes symbolizing the decline of South Korean women's volleyball. South Korea currently ranks below Vietnam in the world rankings as well.
In this tournament too, Vietnam was considered the biggest hurdle to South Korea's title challenge. However, South Korea showed high concentration at every crucial moment and fended off its opponent's pursuit.
The first set was not easy. South Korea led 17-12 but was chased down to 22-20 by Vietnam's counterattack. In the crisis, coach Cha brought back opposite spiker Na Hyun-su and starting setter Kim Da-in, and then took the first set on Lee Ye-rim's consecutive points and Park Eun-jin's quick attack.
In the second set, captain Kang So-hwi played the role of closer. South Korea maintained the lead even in a close contest, and Kang scored consecutive points from 23-19 to pull away to a 2-0 set lead.
South Korea finished the match in the third set. Trailing 18-20, South Korea tied the score at 20-20 on Kim Da-in's consecutive service aces. Then, after a long rally, Lee Ye-rim succeeded with an open attack to flip the match at 21-20. South Korea approached match point at 23-21 on Lee Ye-rim's blocker touch-out attack, and an opposing attacking error at 24-22 sealed its place in the final.
Lee Ye-rim led the win with a team-high 19 points, including three service aces and one block. Kang So-hwi and Na Hyun-su each added 14 points.
