Japan Shows No Mercy, Sweeps Bottom-Placed Korea

In front of a packed crowd in Chiba, home favorites Japan delivered a dominant performance, sweeping their neighbors South Korea in straight sets. This emphatic victory ensures Korea remains firmly rooted at the bottom of the current women’s Volleyball Nations League standings. Japan significantly improved their record to 8 wins and 2 losses, accumulating 24 points to climb to third place in the table. In contrast, Korea trails far behind in 18th place, having secured only 1 win and 4 points from 9 matches.

The match began with the first set proving to be quite one-sided in Japan`s favor. The second set saw more resilience from Korea, who battled back from a five-point deficit to push the score into overtime before Japan finally clinched it on their fifth set point, 27-25. Korea carried this newfound confidence into the third set, establishing a promising 20-16 lead. However, Japan responded decisively at this critical juncture, unleashing a remarkable seven-point scoring run spearheaded by the effective serve of 21-year-old substitute Ayane Kitamodo. This decisive surge turned the set completely around, and shortly after, a successful quick attack by Nichika Yamada sealed the final score of 3-0 with set scores of 25-21, 27-25, and 25-22.

Leading the charge for Japan was opposite hitter Yukiko Wada, who registered a match-high 18 points, including two aces, boasting an impressive 57% success rate in attack. She was well supported by outside hitters Yoshino Sato and 18-year-old Miku Akimoto, who contributed 17 and 11 points respectively. For the Korean side, outside hitter and captain Sohwi Kang was the top scorer with 14 points, all coming from attacks, while her teammate Seoyoung Yuk added 10 points.

Following the victory, Wada commented, “We tried to maintain a good rhythm and a good atmosphere on the court, we were focused on the game and in the end we could get another win today that was really helpful for us. Everybody was focused on what we need to do and also on how we need to do it during the game on the court.”

VNL action is set to continue on Thursday in Apeldoorn, where Olympic and VNL champions Italy will face off against world champions Serbia at 17:00 local time (15:00 UTC).