The 20-point advantage in favor of winning the set was in sight, but then something unbelievable happened on the court.
Korean Air hosted Woori Card at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon on March 30 for their 2023-24 Dodram V League home match. Korean Air battled with Woori Card from the first set, but the Korean Air team found themselves in an advantageous situation in that set.
They took a 19-16 lead. However, Woori started to pull away. A block by setter Han Tae-joon made it 17-19, and from there, Woori Card 토토사이트 went on a run. They scored nine consecutive points to take the first set.
Korean Air was never able to break their opponent’s attack in this situation. They couldn’t turn a rally into a sideout. Woori Card won the set 3-0 against Korean Air. The win snapped a two-game losing streak. With the loss, Korean Air drops to second place, while Woori Card finishes the second round as the top team.
As a result, the first set was a decisive one for both teams. Korean Air head coach Tommy Tilikainen was somber after the match. “First of all, congratulations to the other team,” he said to the media, “but today’s (30th) result gives us something else to work on.”
“It was a good effort by the players on the court to try and fight back, both in terms of offense and defense, but we played better,” he said, adding, “I’m definitely responsible for that.” “Honestly, I don’t know what to say about a game like this,” Tilikainen added.
Coach Tilakainen pulled out his substitution card in the second set. He sent several players to the court, including setter Yoo Kwang-woo and Espejo (Philippines). “For Espejo, we focused on turning the tide, which was a positive,” he said.
“We had used all of our substitutions (six per set),” Tilikainen said of the first set deficit. We couldn’t stop the flow,” he explained. He used timeouts at 19-18 and 19-20 (on Korean Air’s scoreboard) during the back-to-back deficits, but that opportunity didn’t come later in the set.
“If we play like that again, it could be a problem,” Tilikainen said, emphasizing that it was a game that “shouldn’t happen again.”
In the first set, two of Woori Card‘s points came from attacking. Four of the remaining seven points came from Woori Card’s blocking of Korean Air’s attacks, while the remaining three points came from Korean Air errors.
“Han Tae-joon’s serve is not a strong one, and it’s not a very tricky one to receive,” said Woori Card head coach Shin Young-cheol, commenting on the streak of points in the first set. “Unlike Korean Air’s usual game, the players’ overall rhythm seemed to be a bit shaken in that situation.” “The ball is round,” Shin added.
There’s a reason why Tilikainen called it a match that shouldn’t happen again. Korean Air had a home game against KEPCO at the same venue on Oct. 18 that featured some shaky offensive and defensive play. At the time, Korean Air was down 1-3 to KEPCO. Coach Tilikainen said at the time, “I felt bad for both the offense and defense. It was a game where we didn’t play well, and we didn’t play well enough.”