BEILUN, East China, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Thanks to the 29 points scored by captain Kim Yeon Koung, the South Korean women's team pulled back from trailing 2-1 on sets to beat Dominica 3-2 in the Pool 2 tournament of FIVB Volleyball Nations League here on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old, who played for Shanghai women's club in the Chinese League last season after a spell with Turkey's Fenerbahce, delivered 26 spikes and 3 blocks to score the team-high points, though in one point short from the Dominican wing spiker Elizabeth Martinez Brayelin.
It took the Asian powerhouse 155 minutes to nail down the Dominicans and to claim their first victory in the inaugural VNL after the straight sets defeat to Belgium on Tuesday.
"After losing our first game here, we made some big changes in tactics and did well analyze the attack-defense system to make improvements," commented Kim after the game.
"It's really difficult (to win in five sets), especially after yesterday's defeat which made us a little bit upset since we were expecting we could win or something. So today we tried our best for the game against Dominica for the block and defense," she added.
Trailing at the beginning, South Korea made a successful comeback to tie on seven all and never looked back, denying a 5-1 run by the Dominican side, which narrowed the South Korean lead to 20-19, and managing to take the first set 26-24.
The Dominican team, however, played "die hard" in the following two sets, pulling one set back by outlasting their Asian opponents 27-25 in the second set, where both set failed to lead by a margin bigger by three points.
Opening the third in style, Dominica rushed into a 5-2 lead and later improved it to 17-9, including four points scored through aces, before nailing down the set 25-21.
Thanks to some good teamwork in front of the net as well as an ace from captain Kim, South Korea claimed five points in a row to lead 14-8 after tying 5-5, 7-7 into the fourth set, and kept the vibe to improve their advantage to 21-12 before winning 25-14, 15-12 to wrap up the game.
"I'm not happy with the game today. I wished it to be better than yesterday, but not. Our players made a lot of mistakes today, even some mistakes that were not allowed to make, especially at some important moments. It's not OK," said Dominican coach Marcos Kwiek.
"Our block is better than that of yesterday. The players found their ways," said South Korean coach Cha Haewon. "Also we had a meeting last evening to discuss our performance on the service. Today, we are to have meeting covering other things. Hopefully tomorrow we will show more things."
On Thursday, the South Korean team will meet world No. 1 and reigning Olympic champions China in their last match here in Pool 2. Enditem
