“I’m looking forward to the second half. Now I’m looking forward to spring volleyball and beyond that.”
Two straight losses for the first time since his arrival, and no wins in seven games. But he smiled.
Hyundai Capital lost to OK Financial Group in the fourth round of the Dodram V League on Sunday at Yoo Yoo-soon Gymnasium in 토토 Cheonan with a set score of 1-3.
Jin Soon-ki, the acting head coach of Hyundai Capital, went on a movie-like five-game winning streak shortly after taking the helm. The first loss, against Korean Air, was not without drama, with a 42-40 deuce battle in the full set.
They were unable to stop OK Financial Group’s Leo (35 points). “They played well enough,” Jin said. The trio of Ahmed (27 points), Jeon Kwang-in (17 points), and Heo Su-bong (14 points) also played well, but were unable to turn the game around.
When he first took over as acting head coach, spring volleyball was not on his mind. But now he has changed his mind.
“I’m not so far away from first place anymore. It used to be a distant enemy, but now we can approach it as a goal. My players did a great job. We will be well rested for the All-Star Break. I want to give our players new goals and motivation.”
On the day, Hyundai Capital tried to overwhelm their opponents with their strong serve. This is the opposite of OK Financial Group, which emphasizes digging and blocking.
However, the result was not good. They had 22 unforced errors. The serve errors, which occurred at every high point, ultimately led to their defeat.
“He focuses all his attention on Leo’s attack, and I tried to break that direction with my serve, but it didn’t work. Today was a match where I shouldn’t have dropped serves. My serve flow was very good until the morning…but it didn’t work out. I was mentally shaky at the end,” she lamented.
There were also unexpected injuries. Lee sprained his ankle while landing a serve, and Choi Min-ho was hit hard in the jaw by Leo’s hard spike. “It’s not a big injury, but I think they’ll have to go to the hospital tomorrow,” Jin said.
It was also impressive to see him rely on Jeon Kwang-in instead of Ahmed in the penalty shootout. “In front of Ahmed, we have Leo and Chae-hwan. I ordered him to use a lot of fastballs and pipes from the start,” he said, adding, “In the end, it will depend on how to stop Leo and how to exploit him.”