Korean women's volleyball loses third straight game 3-0 to Canada at VNL

Korea ended the second week of Volleyball Nations League action with one win and three losses.

The Korean women's volleyball team [FIVB]

The Korean women’s volleyball team lost 3-0 to Canada in the last game of the second week of the 2024 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) on Sunday, ending the second week with one win and three losses.

Korea displayed a tepid performance in the contest held in Arlington, Texas, struggling to score points and losing the three sets 25-15, 25-12 and 25-18 for a third straight 3-0 loss in the VNL.

No Korean players managed to score double digits, with Lee Ju-ah and Jeong Ji-yun scoring the most points for Korea at six apiece.

Two Canadian outside hitters Kiera Van Ryk and Alexa Gray, meanwhile, registered 13 points each as joint top scorers.

Sunday’s contest wraps up the second week of the VNL schedule during which Korea secured just one win against Bulgaria — beating them 3-2 on May 29.

Before that victory over Bulgaria, Korea had a 30-game losing streak in the annual competition. After beating Canada in June 2021, Korea lost three straight games in the tournament and lost all 24 games in the 2022 and 2023 tournaments, before suffering three more losses this year to China, Brazil and Dominican Republic in the first week of action.

Sunday’s loss, however, extends Korea’s new losing streak to three games.

Korea has four games left to play in the 2024 VNL, with the squad heading to Japan for the third week running from June 11 to 16.

The Korean squad led by head coach Fernando Morales will face Japan in their first game of the third week on June 12, followed by clashes against France on June 13, Italy on June 14 and the Netherlands on June 16.

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