Panasonic overpowered Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance after a close game of full set
Hyundai Capital defeated KEPCO to finish the tournament with 1 win and 2 losses
Japan's invited team Panasonic passed the group stage with all three wins in the professional volleyball cup tournament. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance lost to Panasonic, failing to challenge for first place in the group.
Panasonic beat Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance 3-2 (25-17 25-19 28-30 23-25 15-13) in the third round of the men's Group B preliminary round of the 2023 Gumi-Dodram Cup professional volleyball tournament held at Park Chung-hee Gymnasium in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do on the 11th.
Panasonic, who won all three group matches, advanced to the semifinals as the first place in Group B. With two wins and one loss, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance ranked second in the group.
On the 12th, Panasonic will compete with OK Financial Group, ranked second in Group A, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will compete with Korean Air, ranked first in Group A, for tickets to the finals.
Panasonic Tarumi Yuga and Imamura Takahiko scored 19 points side by side, while Nishikawa Keitaro supported 15 points, including three blocking and two serves.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance's Park Sung-jin scored 22 points and Shin Ki-ho scored 20 points.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance led 11-9 early in the first set, but soon handed over the lead to Panasonic.
Starting with Nishikawa's swift attack at 12-12, Panasonic scored four points and ran away, and silenced Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance with Imamura's open attack and Nakamoto Kenyu's serve ace at 18-16.
The second set was also panasonic.
Panasonic, who scored with blocking following Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance's mistake and Nishikawa's swift attack at 18-15, finished the second set with Tarumi's quick opening at 24-19.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, which lost the first and second sets in a row, launched a major counterattack at the end of the third set.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, which had been dragged from the beginning to the whole time, drew a dramatic deuce with Shin Ki-ho's consecutive quick opening at 22-24, which was likely to lose.
In 26-27, Hong Min-ki's quick opening brought the balance back, and Ha Hyun-yong's swift attack tied the score at 27-28. Following the open attack, Park Sung-jin blocked the opponent Takahiko Imamura's attack to complete the reversal.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, which gained momentum, won up to the fourth set.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, which widened the gap with Kim Jung-ho's rear attack and Park Sung-jin's consecutive serve ace at 16-14, shook off Panasonic's chase and filled its 25th point with Kim Joon-woo's swift attack at 24-23.
The heated match was decided only at the end of the fifth set.
After the seesaw game, Panasonic reached the match point with Tarumi's open attack at 13-13. The long game ended when Nakamoto Kenyu succeeded in an open attack through Kim Joon-woo's blocking.
In the previous match, Hyundai Capital beat KEPCO 3-1 (25-2018-25 25-22 25-22) in the third round of the men's Group B qualifying round.
Hyundai Capital and KEPCO have already lost two games in this tournament, failing to advance to the semifinals.
However, Hyundai Capital won the final group match and finished third in the group (1 win and 2 losses). KEPCO came in last with all three losses.
Hyundai Capital's Lee Seung-joon was in charge of 28 points, while Kim Sun-ho harvested 13 points.
KEPCO's Lee Tae-ho supported 31 points, the most in both teams, but bowed to the team's defeat.
Hyundai Capital took the first set first.
Hyundai Capital, which scored with Lee Seung-joon's quick opening at 12-8, and Park Sang-ha's consecutive blocking, widened the gap with Ham Hyung-jin's blocking at 18-12.
KEPCO, which dedicated the first set, changed the mood with Lee Tae-ho, who scored nine points in the second set alone.
Lee Tae-ho took the lead with an open attack at 16-16, and led the flow with a serve ace following a rear attack at 19-17.
Hyundai Capital gained the upper hand by winning three sets after a neck-and-neck race.
Hyundai Capital earned a point from the opponent Jung Sung-hwan's serve in 20-20, and took the lead with the opponent Lee Tae-ho's serve error in 21-21. In 22-22, following Jung Tae-joon's swift attack, Lee Seung-joon made a series of open attacks to finish the third set.
The owner of the fierce fourth set was also Hyundai Capital.
Jung Tae-joon took the lead by blocking the opponent Lee Tae-ho's quick opening at 22-22. Ham Hyung-jin also reached the set point by blocking the opponent Kang Woo-sung's rear attack.
KEPCO sought a final counterattack, but gave up the game due to a mistake