Another day, another set of results. The Hyundai Capital men’s professional volleyball team postponed its chance to end its losing streak to another match.
Hyundai Capital lost 2-3 at home to Samsung Fire at Yoo Yoo-soon Gymnasium in Cheonan on Friday after a close match that went to a full set. The loss was their sixth straight defeat.
However, it was the same result in the team’s last match of the second round against Samsung Fire at Chungmu Gymnasium in Daejeon on the 1st. They also dropped the first set, then won the second and third sets in a row, but dropped the fourth set and eventually lost the fifth set.
The team’s first match of the third round, the ‘return match’, had the same result. They were unable to maintain their set lead.
Hyundai Capital head coach Choi Tae-woong was also frustrated by the back-to-back results. “I think the players did their best,” Choi said in an official interview with the media after the match against Samsung Fire on May 5, “but we kept missing one or two clues. To put it another way, we keep coming up 2% short,” he lamented.
“It’s not that we were outplayed in the fifth set (by Samsung Fire), but we were playing too many matches that shouldn’t have gone to five sets,” he said. There was one more area Choi was disappointed with on the day.
It was long setter Kim Myung-kwan. Kim Myung-kwan came off the bench for the first set, but was in the starting lineup for sets two through five. “I think she showed almost everything she has today,” Choi said, “but she didn’t play well after she got muscle soreness in the fourth set.”
“I think we lacked a little bit of backbone,” Choi said, emphasizing, “We’ll have to play the rest of the match with a double-header.” Hyundai Capital will try to end their losing streak again on April 9 when they host OK Financial Group at Ansan Sangryoksu Gymnasium. Although they don’t have much time to spare before the next game, they still have three days to prepare.