IBK Bank rallied back from two sets down against Heungkuk Saengsim, but fell short of its first win of the season.
On Friday, Heungkuk Life defeated IBK IBK 3-2 in the fifth round of the Dodram V-League Women’s Division of the 2023-24 season at Samsan Gymnasium.
For IBK, it was another case of a cooked meal spilled before their eyes. Abe Crombie put up a good fight with 31 kills, as did her opponent Kim Yeon-kyung, but it was not enough for the 안전 토토사이트 IBK team.
This was the fifth loss of the season for IBK to Heungkuk Life. What’s even more disappointing is that all of the matches from rounds three through five were full-set affairs.
In fact, the match was not lopsided in terms of points. After dropping the first and second sets, they had plenty of opportunities to push and steal the third and fourth sets. In terms of points per set, the match was consistently close.
Speaking to the press after the match, IBK head coach Kim Ho-cheol said, “It’s not that one part is lacking, but the motivation to win should show on the face, but even if it’s a little bit, the morale is down.”
“We have two mercenaries (Abercrombie and Fonfoon), to be honest,” Kim said. We need to be a little more cheerful and want to take the game into our own hands, but we lacked that today. Of course, the players did a good job to the best of their abilities. I don’t like to criticize players, but today we were in the mood to win, so that’s a shame.”
Coach Kim Ho-cheol switched Ponpun and Kim Ha-kyung midway through the set. When asked about this, he initially said “no comment,” but when asked for more details, he said, “Sometimes, Ponpun throws the toss as he thinks. The ball is so fast that our attackers can’t hit the ball, and we have to give the ball according to the capabilities of the attackers, but because he is used to his own toss, he gives a toss that our attackers can’t follow, and the ball that is crucial to give keeps going in a different direction. I think today was one of those days where he got a bit carried away.”
Abercrombie also has some things to work on. “(Abercrombie) has always been the most silent player on our team,” Kim said, “I want him to cheer, I want him to do a little bit more action, I want him to cheer, but he doesn’t do well when he comes on the field because of his personality. I think he’s doing his job, but we want him to give us the ball when it’s crucial, and I think he was a little bit dangerous today in that regard.”
Finally, when asked about his resolve for the rest of the season, Kim Ho-cheol said, “As I said in the pre-interview, I will do my best for the remaining games, one game at a time,” and left.
The team will next play GS Caltex at the Hwaseong Indoor Gymnasium on March 18th.