▲ South Korea Women's Volleyball Crushes Kazakhstan 3-0
The South Korean women's national volleyball team (ranked 28th in the world), led by head coach Cha Sang-hyun, defeated tough opponent Kazakhstan (ranked 42nd) to advance to the semifinals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
The national team won 3-0 (26-24, 27-25, 25-21) against Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals held today (September 20) at Park Arena Komaki in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
The national team will play the semifinals tomorrow at 7:20 PM against the winner of the match between Japan (ranked 6th) and Taiwan (ranked 37th) taking place this afternoon.
This marks the first time in 8 years that the South Korean women's volleyball team has reached the semifinals of the Asian Games since the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang tournament.
South Korea finished as runner-up at the 2010 Guangzhou Games, won the championship at the 2014 Incheon Games, won the bronze medal at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, and finished in 5th place after failing to reach the semifinals at the 2022 Hangzhou Games held in 2023.
Although the national team secured a victory without dropping a set, they faced fierce battles in the first and second sets, which went to deuce.
In the first set, trailing 23-22, South Korea allowed consecutive points to turn the tables, but reclaimed the lead at 25-24 thanks to back-to-back blocks by Kim Da-in (Hyundai Engineering & Construction).
Afterward, they regained the attack opportunity through Kim Da-in's effective block and Yook Seo-young's (IBK Industrial Bank) dig, and Kang So-hwi (Korea Expressway Corporation) scored a crucial point to take the first set 26-24.
The second set was equally intense.
Leading 24-23, South Korea conceded consecutive points, allowing a 24-25 turnaround.
However, Yook Seo-young calmly succeeded in an attack and followed up with a service ace to reverse the score to 26-25.
The national team did not let the opportunity slip away.
With an opponent's attacking error adding another point, they brought the set score to 2-0.
Having hard-fought and secured the first and second sets, South Korea wrapped up the match in the third set.
Leading 21-20, consecutive points from Kang So-hwi and Yook Seo-young secured the momentum, and Park Eun-seo (SOOP) ended the match with a block at 24-21.
Yook Seo-young delivered an outstanding performance as the top scorer of both teams with 20 points, while middle blocker Jung Ho-young (Heungkuk Life Insurance) contributed 10 points and Lee Da-hyun (NEC Red Rockets) added 9 points.
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