Osaka, Japan, September 27, 2019 – Korea defeated Kenya 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-21) in the first match on the ninth day of the FIVB Women’s World Cup at Osaka’s Edion Arena on Friday.
Korea coach Stefano Lavarini: "Serve and reception in this match made the big difference. In the first two sets, our service worked very well and they couldn’t use their physical qualities. In the third set, they made a little problem for us because we couldn’t handle their power in terms of blocking and defence, so serve and reception was important for the balance of the match. In the third set, I was complaining a little bit about our attacking attitude, but I’m happy about the result and the match and the fact that we were able to give more experience to all of the players. I hope that we will play both the next two matches [against Brazil and USA] with the aim of learning a lot from two teams with different schools of volleyball. We have a lot to learn from both of them."
Korea player Yang Hyojin: "We had some problems today because of our condition – some of our players have injury problems – and Kenya played with strong teamwork throughout the three sets. But the good thing is it allowed the coach to use many players. I’m happy today but we still have a lot to improve on and many things need correcting, especially our defensive skills. So, I’m happy about today but we need to think about improving in our remaining two games."
Kenya coach Paul Bitok: "In the first two sets, it was difficult for us to play because our wing receivers failed. We tried to correct it in the third set and it worked well for us as we were leading up to 20 points, but again we made the same mistake and allowed Korea to score straight points from 18 to 25. I hope we don’t repeat this in the next matches. Our aim is to win against Cameroon [in our final match] but I’m not thinking about that now as we have to focus on Russia tomorrow. We want to improve when we face the big teams."
Kenya captain Mercy Moim: "The game was not bad but not good. In the first and second sets, we played badly and allowed Korea to use their strong weapons. In the third set, we started well but the finish wasn’t so good, so we lost the set. Tomorrow, we play Russia and will work on our reception and court defence because that’s a big problem now. Russia don’t play fast like Korea so we’re going to work on our blocks and reception and backcourt defence."
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