‘Two straight full-set losses’ Korean Air coach says “the sun will rise tomorrow”
The Korean Air Jumbos men’s professional volleyball team has lost two consecutive full-set matches, taking the first and second sets before dropping the third, fourth, and fifth.
How does head coach Tommi Tilikainen view the situation after coming so close to winning two straight matches?
Korean Air, led by Tilikainen, suffered a bitter pill to swallow on Friday at Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul with a set score of 3-2 (25-13 34-32 30-32 18-25 15-17) against Woori Card in the first round of the Dodram V League Men’s Division for the 2023-2024 season.
When Tilikainen walked into the post-match press conference, his first question to reporters was. “When he realized that the game lasted a total of 165 minutes, he joked, “It’s a shame, because we should have played for three hours.”
The game broke the all-time record for the longest match in the V-League Men’s Division. With a total game time of 165 minutes, it surpassed the previous record of 160 minutes set on November 13 last year between Samsung Fire Blue Force and KB Insurance.
The match went to five sets, with the second, third, and fifth sets decided by deuce. For Korean Air, it was a heartbreaking defeat after taking the first two sets and then dropping the third.
“It was a shame that we couldn’t score at the crucial moments,” said Tilikainen after the match. “The first set was easy because our players followed our tactics well, and the second set was the same way, with a crisis, but we capitalized on our chances at the end and won the second set,” said Tilikainen.
“We had a lot of chances, but we didn’t score the decisive points at the end. That’s what we didn’t do well today, we didn’t score when we had the last chance,” he said. “After losing the third set, the home team’s mood picked up,” he said, analyzing the match.
“There are a lot of factors that contributed to our inability to score at the crucial moment,” he said, “technical, understanding of the game, understanding of the situation.
But Tilikainen didn’t hang his head. “We just lost,” he said. “It doesn’t change anything,” Tilikainen said. “It doesn’t change anything, it’s more 먹튀검증 important what we do in the future,” he said. “Losing today doesn’t take away our spirit, our confidence. The sun will rise tomorrow,” he said.
“The players did their best and gave everything they had,” he said, adding that he was proud of his team and that “it makes me love them even more.” “This situation will determine whether we can make history or not,” he emphasized.
Defending champion Korean Air, mired in a two-game losing streak, will attempt to snap the losing streak when it welcomes KB Insurance to its home field on April 28.
