To the ‘second-year setter’, a heartfelt word from Choi

“You need to get out of your little tee.”

That’s what Hyundai Capital coach Choi Tae-woong told his ‘second-year’ setter Lee Hyun-seung.

Hyundai Capital suffered its sixth consecutive defeat on Friday, losing the first match of the third round of the Dodram 2023-2024 V-League with a set score of 2-3 (20-25 25-21 26-24 21-25 13-15) at Yugwansoon Gymnasium in Cheonan.

Four attackers marked double-digit points. Ahmed led the way with a team-high 29 points, followed by He Sufeng and all-rounder Fei Chang with 16, 14, and 11 points, but the team cried for lack of heart in the fifth set. They settled for one more point and remained in sixth place (10 points).

It was a five-set loss after the previous match against Samsung Fire. The flow was similar to that time. Coach Choi said, “Rather than looking for the reason why we lost in the fifth set, we shouldn’t have gone to the fifth set. It showed the weakness of our team. In the remaining matches, the players tried their best. However, we lacked the backbone, and now we have to play the rest of the matches in a really draining fashion.”

Setter Kim Myung-kwan came in as a substitute in the first set and stayed on the court until the end. Coach Choi said, “Kim Myung-kwan did her part. It was unfortunate that he suddenly had a muscle cramp, and I’m worried that (starting setter) Lee Hyun-seung didn’t fulfill his part of the game plan,” Choi said.

I asked him to elaborate. Choi replied, “I usually leave the play to the setter. I don’t mind getting hit once or twice. Last season, when I played as a rookie, I was nervous, and I got over it (when the play didn’t work) because I was young. “I’m not blaming Hyun-seung by any means,” he said, “but this season we need to get out of the rookie mindset. It’s just that the starting point of our team’s play was wrong,” he said.

Jeon Kwang-in relinquished the captaincy. Moon Sung-min wore the armband instead. “I wasn’t feeling well after the 먹튀검증 national team,” Choi said. My performance was down, and I felt the weight of the captaincy,” Choi said, adding, “Today’s performance was good. Ahmed is also doing his part. But for some reason, the team is lacking 2%. We are looking for it, but it’s not easy.”

Middle blocker Choi Min-ho showed his veteran side as he made some well-timed blocks to keep the flow going. “I served well,” said Choi. I think Samsung Fire prepared well and played good volleyball. Even though we lost, it was a good match.”