Hyundai Capital Defeats LIG, 3-0

Coach Kim Ho-chul of the professional volleyball team Hyundai Capital has a reputation for being hot-tempered. But this year, Coach Kim has kept his temper pretty much under control. One reason for this was that his players were tired after taking part in the Doha Asian Games. Another factor was that there had not been sufficient time to develop teamwork. Although Coach Kim tried to hold back his frustration, his team’s 0-3 defeat to Korean Air on February 4 was the last straw.

After the women’s match came to an end, the players returned to their quarters and had to face an intensive training session in an empty gym. Forced to run the drill because they had the “wrong attitude,” the players had to train for more than two hours, and it was late that night before they were allowed to eat dinner.

It was at the away match against LIG at Park Jeong-hee gymnasium in Gumi on February 7 that Hyundai Capital almost experienced another mishap. It would have been hard to make out a winner if Hyundai Capital had not been able to dramatically win the decisive first set.

At the start of the match, LIG players looked like they were in good shape. Foreign player Freddie Winters, who moved his position to the right, succeeded in continuously attacking from the backcourt, and on the left, Hong Seok-min’s sharp attacks broke through Hyundai Capital’s blocking wall.

But LIG was missing a problem solver. In the latter half of the set, LIG was leading 22-18 and it looked like they would win the game, but they were unable to see it through. When the score was 24 to 23, Winters had a chance to attack, but ended up allowing an even score with a net touch.

With a second opportunity and the score tied at 25-25, Hyundai Capital claimed the first set with Lee Sun-kyu blocking Bang Shin-bong’s spike, followed by Song In-suk’s service ace. Hyundai Capital easily won the other two sets and claimed a 3-0 victory (27-25, 25-22, 25-16).

Coach Kim was not yet satisfied, however, saying, “It’s hard to say that we won, it’s more like LIG let us win. The players still do not have the proper attitude.”

uni@donga.com