Heungkuk Life head coach Marcello Avondanza’s side won the first leg of the best-of-three playoffs, but kept the pressure on to set up the second leg.
Heungkuk Life pulled off a 3-1 (22-25 25-13 25-23 25-23) come-from-behind victory over Jeong Kwan-jang in the first leg of the Dodram 2023-24 V-League PO (best-of-three) at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Wednesday.
The two teams will move to Chungmu Gymnasium in Daejeon on April 24 for the second leg. If Heungkuk Sinsaeng wins, it will face regular season leader Hyundai E&C in the championship match.
“In the postseason, it’s hard to predict what will happen,” Abondanza said after the match. We were nervous and that’s why we didn’t play well, but I liked the way the players approached the game,” he said.
“We’ll be well rested for Game 2. The day before the game, we will watch and analyze the video, have a meeting with the players, and prepare for the next game.”
With the victory, Heungkuk Life secured a spot in the championship match. Historically, the winner of the first round of the women’s professional volleyball playoffs has a 100% (17 out of 17) chance of advancing to the championship.
However, Abondanza said, “We were told that we had a 100% chance of winning the championship last season if we won the first and second games in a row, but we lost three games in a row. “In the playoffs, you don’t know what can happen,” he said, adding, “You never know what can happen during the match, especially when you see the other team’s 토토 Jung Ho-young get injured.
Despite the victory, Abondanza was not happy with the officiating on the day. After two video reviews, the referee pointed to Willow Johnson’s hair touching the net as a net touch.
“The referee didn’t just look at the video review, he looked at the situation afterward and pointed to the net touch,” Abondanza said, adding, “If a call like that happens in a tight game, it can have a big impact on the outcome of the game.”