Hernandez revamps Korean volleyball squad ahead of Asian Championships

Korean women's volleyball team head coach Cesar Hernandez announced the national team roster on Monday for the Asian Women's Volleyball Championship, set to start at the end of August, slightly tweaking the squad from the VNL last month

The Korean women's volleyball team celebrates during a Volleyball Nations League game against the Dominican Republic at West Suwon Chilbo Gymnasium in Suwon, Gyeonggi on June 29. [NEWS1]

Korean women's volleyball team head coach Cesar Hernandez announced the national team roster on Monday for the Asian Women's Volleyball Championship, set to start at the end of August, slightly tweaking the squad from the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) last month.

Four players that did not compete at the VNL last month are on the roster with notable changes in attack as three of them are outside hitters — Lee Seon-woo of Daejeon KGC, Kwon Min-ji of GS Caltex Seoul KIXX and Lee Han-bi of the Gwangju AI Peppers.

Libero Kim Yeon-gyeon of Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate is another new name, playing alongside the only other libero, Moon Jung-won of Gimcheon Korea Expressway Hi-Pass.

Over in the setter position, Kim Da-in of Hillstate and Kim Ji-won of the KIXX will join Hernandez’s squad again.

Kang So-hwi of the KIXX, Park Jeong-ah of the Peppers and Jeong Ji-yun of Hillstate complete the list of outside hitters with the three new faces.

No new middle blockers join the team, with Lee Ju-ah of the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders, Park Eun-jin and Jung Ho-young of KGC and Lee Da-hyeon of Hillstate on the roster again.

Hernandez’s squad will start a three-week training camp at Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong on Aug. 6 ahead of the Asian Championship, set to run from Aug. 30 through Sept. 6 in Thailand.

The upcoming Asian Championship is a chance for Korea to display improvements from the VNL, where they suffered 12 straight losses.

Korea was clearly lacking in attack compared to other teams in the VNL, as their top three scorers — Kang, Jeong and Kim Da-eun — only managed 240 points, well below the solo effort by Stysiak Magdalena of Poland with 298.

Hernandez also said after the last VNL game on July 2 that improving attack and efficiency will be his main focus for the team.

The Asian Championship, in which 16 countries from Asia and Oceania compete, however, will not be easy for Korea with the team having to face the likes of defending champions Japan and winningest team China.

Both Japan and China will join the Asian Championship in good form, with Japan having reached the quarterfinals of the VNL and China having finished the tournament as runners-up.

Korea has never won the Asian Championship, although they have finished as runners-up seven times, while China have won it 13 times and Japan five.

Hernandez's squad will first warm up at the KOVO Cup — where all seven V League teams with one invitee from overseas will participate to test out their squad ahead of the new campaign — from Saturday through Aug. 5, before they join the training on Aug. 6.

The team will then jet off to Thailand on Aug. 28 to take part in the Asian Championship, where they will face Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Chinese Taipei in Group C.

Korea will go straight back to training after the tournament, as the team will have to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers and Hangzhou Asian Games, both scheduled in September.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]