Korean women's volleyball end 2024 VNL with 10 losses, best result since 2021

The Korean women's volleyball team [YONHAP]

The Korean national women's volleyball team suffered a 3-0 loss to the Netherlands in their last 2024 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) game on Sunday, ending the annual tournament with two wins and 10 losses.

Korea's final game in Fukuoka, Japan was one-sided, with the Netherlands continuing their dominance throughout the whole contest to win the three sets 25-21, 25-11 and 25-17.

Outside hitter Jeong Ji-yun scored the most points, at 10, as the game’s top scorer, but it still failed to win Korea a single set.

Although Korea lost 10 games out of their 12 total 2024 VNL games, this year's results are still better than what the team recorded for the past two years, during which they lost every single game.

Teams from 16 countries compete in the annual international tournament. The top eight teams reach the knockout stage.

Korea lost three straight games in the 2021 VNL and lost every single game of the tournament for the following two years. They suffered three more losses this year, to China, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, before cutting a 30-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over Thailand on May 19.

Korea lost five games following that victory.

A 3-2 victory over France on June 13 cut that five-game losing streak, but Korea failed to secure a second straight win, losing 3-0 to Italy the next day and repeating the same result against the Netherlands.

Despite failing to reach the quarterfinals, the results this year could be a sign of improvement under new head coach Fernando Morales, who took the helm in March ahead of the VNL.

Before Morales took charge, Korea struggled in every international competition, losing all seven Paris Olympic qualifiers and failing to medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.

He will be put to the test of securing more convincing results in the next international tournament — but not at the Paris Olympics, as Korea failed to qualify.

After France automatically qualified for the Olympics as a host country and six other countries booked tickets to the Games through qualifiers, five more seats were open to those who had yet to qualify.

But the remaining five tickets went to higher-ranked countries on the FIVB world standings, prioritizing continents without a qualified team in the Olympics. The Korean women's national team has fallen down more than 20 spots since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where they finished fourth.

China and Japan qualified through the ranking pathway alongside Italy, Netherlands and Kenya. The Paris Olympics begin on July 26.

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