Korea jet off to Sofia for next stage of Volleyball Nations League

The Korean women's volleyball team heads to Sofia, Bulgaria to face Thailand on Wednesday, looking for their first win of the 2022 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) after losing their first eight matches in Louisiana and Brasilia, Brazil.

Park Jeong-ah attacks during a Volleyball Nations League match between Korea and Turkey held on June 20 in Brasilia, Brazil. [FIVB]

The Korean women's volleyball team heads to Sofia, Bulgaria to face Thailand on Wednesday, looking for their first win of the 2022 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) after losing their first eight matches in Louisiana and Brasilia, Brazil.

Since the start of the VNL season, Korea has only won one set — against Turkey on June 20 in a 3-1 loss — losing the other seven matches in three straight sets.

With the loss on June 20, the Korean women's volleyball team have lost all eight matches and are at the bottom of the standings. Second-to-last team Netherlands has one win.

This year's Volleyball Nations League was always going to be a harder outing for Korea with the absence of veterans Kim Yeon-koung, Kim Su-ji and Yang Hyo-jin from the squad.

Despite being on a winless streak of eight matches straight, Korea may be getting better.

On June 17, in their sixth match at the VNL, Korea was able to push the first set against Serbia to a score of 40-38, keeping up with the current No. 7 team for a duration of 47 minutes.

Despite dropping the next two sets 25-22, 25-22, Korea had more attacks than Serbia, marking 52 attack points to Serbia's 46. Korea also had 54 digs, one more than Serbia.

The problem for Korea in the Serbia match was errors, conceding 33 points to Serbia as opponent errors.

Kang So-hwi, right, attacks during a Volleyball Nations League match between Korea and Turkey held on June 20 in Brasilia, Brazil. [FIVB]

Kim Hee-jin plays the ball during a Volleyball Nations League match between Korea and Turkey held on June 20 in Brasilia, Brazil. [FIVB]

Then, on June 20 against Turkey, Korea was able to win their very first set since the start of the season to kick off the game. It was Kang So-hwi who scored seven points alone in the first set, with Jung Ho-young, Park Jeong-ah and Kim Hee-jin each adding four points.

The best scorer of that match was Ebrar Kakakurt of Turkey, who scored 17 points, while Kang was the best scorer of Korea having scored 13 points.

Korea opened the tournament at Shreveport-Bossier City, then moved to Brazilia and now now jets off to Sofia to play their next four matches. While last year's VNL was played in a bubble with all matches held in Rimini, Italy, the 2022 VNL returned to its original format where 16 countries compete in a round robin across six cities around the world.

To avoid leaving this VNL season winless, Korea's best chances are No. 8 Thailand on Wednesday. After that game, they will face No. 3 Brazil and No. 4 Italy on Friday and No. 6 China on Sunday.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]