Home > Sports > Volleyball

South beat North in women's volleyball after medal knockout

Published: 05 Oct. 2023, 17:47 Updated: 05 Oct. 2023, 18:55

The South Korean women's volleyball team beat North Korea 3-1 on Thursday, though both teams were earlier knocked out of medal contention at the Hangzhou Asian Games. [NEWS1]

The South Korean women’s volleyball team beat North Korea 3-1 in a classification pool game on Thursday, though both teams have already been knocked out of medal contention.

Korea out of volleyball medal race after 3-0 loss to China

The teams stayed neck-and-neck for the beginning of the first set but a handful of errors by South Korea gave North Korea the lead and put the scoreboard at 25-19.

South Korea then came back in the second set, winning it 25-21 with an ace from Kim Da-in. South Korea dominated North Korea in the third set, ending it 25-9.

The teams again played a close game in the fourth and final set but South Korea prevailed, closing out 25-20.

Neither team will have a chance to reach the podium at this year’s Asiad after both took losses on Wednesday. South Korea lost 3-0 to host country China and North Korea lost 3-1 to Vietnam in their first Pool E games.

In the volleyball tournament at the Asian Games, teams first compete in a series of preliminary games that determine their standings for the next phase, classification of the top eight.

Win-loss records from the preliminary stage carry over to the classification pool, and the combined results of the two stages determine which teams make the semifinals.

Among the four Pool E teams, South Korea and North Korea each entered with one loss, while China and Vietnam had two wins from the preliminary stage. Both South Korea and North Korea failed to secure the wins needed on Wednesday to stay alive in the knockout stage.

This year will be the first time the South Korean women’s volleyball team fails to medal at the Asian Games since 2006.

BY MARY YANG [[email protected]]