(Asiad) 'We never wanted to repeat past failure,' says S. Korean setter Kim Da-in

KOMAKI, Japan, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- A 3-1 victory over Vietnam in the final women's volleyball group match at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday helped South Korean players overcome the memory of a come-from-behind defeat at the previous Asiad.

"We could not let our guard down until the end of the match," setter Kim Da-in told reporters after the team pulled off a 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 26-28, 25-18) victory at Park Arena Komaki, just north of Nagoya, Japan.

South Korea lost the third set after squandering a 25-24 match point and entered the fourth set. But the South Korean players quickly regained their advantage and went on to win the match.

With the victory, South Korea topped Pool D with three wins and will avoid China, the Pool B winner, in the quarterfinals on Sunday. Instead, South Korea will play Kazakhstan, the runner-up in Pool B behind China.

Friday's match recalled South Korea's collapse at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, when it won the first set but surrendered the next three straight sets to lose the final preliminary-round match against Vietnam.

With the loss, South Korea finished second in the group and met China in the quarterfinals, where it lost 3-0.

"When the score reached 19-15, it struck me as I recalled three years ago when we squandered a 19-15 lead and lost the fourth set," Kim said.

"But I kept telling myself that we couldn't lose this match and repeat the failure."

Kim recorded six service winners during the match, surpassing her personal record of four in the domestic volleyball league. Her aces helped South Korea withstand Vietnam's attempts to regain momentum.

"Before this match, I felt good about my serving," she said. "But my setting rhythm was not that good, so I tried to relax and let it go."

Middle blocker Lee Da-hyeon said her teammates tried to fine-tune their rhythm before entering the fourth set, and it worked.

"We could have won the third set, but we lost it due to errors and problems with our organization," she said. "We told ourselves that we could win the fourth set if we did things our own way as we had before."

For the next match against Kazakhstan, Lee stressed speed to overcome the height of the Kazakh players.

"Kazakh players are very tall, and their average height is over 180 centimeters," she said. "I think we should focus on our strengths, tossing lower and moving faster."