South Korea women's national volleyball team head coach Cha Sang-hyun answers reporters' questions at a press conference for the 2026 Korean men's and women's national volleyball teams held at the Olympic Hall in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Monday. At right is team captain Kang So-hwi. [Yonhap]
South Korea women's national volleyball team head coach Cha Sang-hyun answers reporters' questions at a press conference for the 2026 Korean men's and women's national volleyball teams held at the Olympic Hall in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Monday. At right is team captain Kang So-hwi. [Yonhap]

South Korea's women's national volleyball team, led by head coach Cha Sang-hyun, swept its friendly series against Indonesia with a second consecutive victory.

Kang So-hwi topped all scorers with 16 points to spearhead the attack, while the team dominated at the net with 17 blocks to Indonesia's three, securing a 3-1 set victory (25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 25-20) at the Jecheon Gymnasium in North Chungcheong Province on Saturday. Korea had also won the first friendly 3-1 on Thursday, completing a two-game sweep.

The team will play its final friendly against Indonesia at the same venue on Sunday before turning its full attention to next month's East Asian Championship and Asian Championship.

Korea's starting lineup featured setter Lee Go-eun (Heungkuk Life Insurance), outside hitters Kang So-hwi (Korea Expressway Corporation) and Park Yeo-reum (Jung Kwan Jang), opposite spiker Jeong Yun-ju (Heungkuk Life Insurance), and middle blockers Jeong Ho-yeong (Heungkuk Life Insurance) and Kim Se-bin (Korea Expressway Corporation).

Korea took the first set comfortably, with Park Yeo-reum, Kang and Kim Se-bin leading the charge. In the second set, Korea fell behind midway before rallying on the strength of its height advantage.

At 21-20, Jeong Ho-yeong's quick set from the middle extended the lead, and Kang delivered a decisive attack to make it 23-21. After dropping the third set, Korea closed out the match in the fourth.

With the score at 15-13, Lee Ju-a (Industrial Bank of Korea) converted a running attack to shift momentum, and Korea reached 20 points first at 19-15 after an Indonesia service error to seal the win.

Kang finished with a team-high 16 points, while Na Hyeon-su (Hyundai E&C) contributed 13 points including three blocks, Lee Ju-a added eight, Park Yeo-reum seven and Jeong Ho-yeong six. Korea's 17 blocks against Indonesia's three underscored the significant height differential between the two sides.


th5@heraldcorp.com