The women's national volleyball team, led by head coach Cha Sang-hyun (world ranking 28th), defeated formidable Kazakhstan (42nd) to advance to the semifinals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
The national team secured a 3-0 set victory (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 its semifinal match on September 21 at 7:20 PM against Japan (6th), which defeated Chinese Taipei (37th) 3-0 in sets earlier in the day.
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 Games.
South Korea finished as runners-up at the 2010 Guangzhou Games, won the championship at the 2014 Incheon Games, and took the bronze medal at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games. However, the team failed to reach the semifinals at the 2022 Hangzhou Games held in 2023, finishing in 5th place.
Although the national team won in straight sets today, they faced tight contests that went to deuces in the first and second sets.
In the first set, trailing 23-22, South Korea conceded consecutive points and allowed a turnaround, but reclaimed the lead at 25-24 thanks to consecutive blocks by Kim Da-in (Hyundai E&C).
Afterward, securing the attack right through Kim Da-in's effective block and Yook Seo-young's (IBK Altos) dig, Kang So-hwi (Korea Expressway Corporation) scored a crucial point to clinch the first set 26-24.
The second set was equally fierce.
South Korea conceded consecutive points from a 24-23 lead, falling behind 24-25.
However, Yook Seo-young calmly succeeded in an attack followed by a service ace to turn the score around to 26-25.
The national team did not let the opportunity slip away.
They added another point on the opponent's attack error to make the set score 2-0.
Having narrowly captured the first and second sets, South Korea closed out the match in the third set.
They seized control of the game with consecutive points from Kang So-hwi and Yook Seo-young at 21-20, and Park Eun-seo (SOOP) ended the match with a block at 24-21.
Yook Seo-young put on a stellar performance, scoring a match-high 20 points, while middle blocker Jung Ho-young (Pink Spiders) contributed 10 points and Lee Da-hyun (NEC Red Rockets) added 9 points.
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.