Korea was beaten by Germany in its second match of Week 3 in the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday, the international volleyball federation said.
Coming off a strong win against host Japan on Friday, Germany continued its aggressive play against Korea. It was a dominating performance from start to finish for Germany, taking the match in an hour and 11 minutes.
Han Song-yi of Korea spikes against the Germans in her side’s second match of Week 3 at the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in Osaka, Japan, Saturday. (FIVB)
Corina Ssuschke-Voigt led Germany in scoring, putting up 14 points. Korea couldn’t muster much of an attack against the strong serving.
Korean star attackers Kim Yeon-koung and captain Lee Sook-ja were rested.
Germany was aggressive from the service line early, with Heike Beier, the tournament’s second-leading server before the match, dropping two aces to give her side a 6-0 lead. Another pair from Denis Hanke kept them out front 10-4. Germany was virtually flawless from there. Maren Brinker pitched in wonderful blocking for Germany, driving it to 22-10. Her side closed the first set out on an errant spike from Korea.
Korea performed better at the start of the second set, with attacks from Han Song-yi and Lim Hyo-sook putting the team neck-and-neck with Germany until 7-7. But the Germans were merciless from there, scoring 11 of the next 12 points to go ahead 18-8. Kozuch put Germany up 2-0 with a hard spike, her seventh point of the set.
The Koreans didn’t help their cause in the third with a flurry of early errors that allowed Germany to take a 7-2 lead. Christiane Furst contributed a spike and a block to make it 10-3 for Germany. Korea mustered a small run to draw within four at 14-10. But Germany’s Regina Burchardt brought a pair of scores, and the German side closed the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.
By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldm.com)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
