Hope blooms in a crisis, a message left by the women's volleyball team's AVC Cup victory > News

The national team's record of winning all 7 games in this tournament has meaning beyond mere numbers. The fact that we continued to progress flawlessly from the group stage to the semifinals and finally to the final without a single hurdle proves that our players' organizational skills have become that much stronger. In particular, in contrast to their somewhat shaky start with a 3-2 win over Chinese Taipei in the group stage, they showed a more advanced game management ability by winning 3-0 in the finals. This means that the coaching staff's strategic analysis and the players' quick adaptability combined to maximize the team's perfection throughout the competition. As a result, this win served as an opportunity to instill confidence in our players that they can achieve victory on their own even without the huge presence of Kim Yeon-kyung and Yang Hyo-jin.

Looking at the details of the final, it is clear how much our national team has made in crisis management and offensive focus. Although they struggled in the blocking battle at the beginning of the first set, the attacking team, led by captain So-Hwi Kang, had sharp decisions that immediately offset their blocking inferiority. Kang So-hwi recorded a high attack success rate of 41%, clearly establishing the team's focus in both offense and defense, and young players such as Jeong Yun-ju and Lee Ye-rim also played their part in their respective positions to lead the team to victory. In particular, in a close match in the 3rd set, the scene in which he led his opponent to make a mistake and finished the game by making a decisive block showed a markedly different strength from the past where he collapsed due to a mistake in every important game.

Of course, a cool-headed perspective is also needed when interpreting the meaning of this win. It is an undeniable fact that Asian powerhouses such as China, Japan, and Thailand, who are participating in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL), the highest level competition hosted by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), did not participate in this AVC Cup. Considering the background of our national team entering this tournament after failing to remain in the VNL last year, it is somewhat difficult to evaluate that this win has completely narrowed the gap with the world's best. However, it must be highly appreciated that they regained the initiative they had lost on the Asian stage and renewed the atmosphere of the entire team. Above all, the biggest achievement of this tournament is that it raised the world ranking, which had fallen from 40th to 31st, and laid a valuable foundation for challenging higher places in the future.

For Korean women's volleyball, which faces the huge task of changing generations, this win has more value than just a trophy. The trials and errors experienced in the process of filling the vacancies of veterans who have been the pillars of the national team for a long time appear to be gradually being resolved through this competition. New leadership centered around So-Hwi Kang is taking root, and the aggressive energy of young players is adding color to the team. The ‘stable game management’ completed under the leadership of Coach Sang-Hyun Cha presented the direction our national team should take in the future. Now is the time to put aside the joy of this victory and take practical follow-up measures to maximize the strengths revealed in this tournament and complement the weaknesses in preparation for the future when we will face stronger opponents.