Japanese invitee Panasonic swept through the group stage of the Professional Volleyball Cup with a three-game sweep. Samsung Fire had their hopes of topping the group dashed with a heartbreaking loss to Panasonic.
Panasonic defeated Samsung Fire by a set score of 3-2 (25-17 25-19 28-30 23-25 15-13) in the third match of the Men’s Group B Preliminary Round of the 2023 Gumi Dodram Cup Professional Volleyball Competition at Park Jung-hee Gymnasium in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do, on November 11.
Panasonic won all three of its group matches to advance to the semifinals as Group B’s top seed. With a 2-1 record, Samsung Fire finished second in the group.
On Wednesday, Panasonic will take on Group A runner-up OK Financial Group, while Samsung Fire will face Group A leader Korean Air for a ticket to the final.
Panasonic’s Yuga Tarumi and Takahiko Imamura combined for 19 points, while Keitaro Nishikawa contributed 15 points, including three blocks and two serves.
Samsung Fire’s Park Sung-jin had 22 points and Shin Shin-ho had 20.
Samsung Fire took an early 11-9 lead in the first set, but Panasonic quickly surrendered the lead.
Panasonic scored the next four points, starting with a Nishikawa kill at 12-12, before an Imamura open attack and a Kenyu Nakamoto service ace silenced Samsung Fire at 18-16.
The second set also went Panasonic’s way.
After a Samsung Fire error at 18-15 and a block by Nishikawa on a fast break, Panasonic closed out the set at 24-19 on a quick opener by Tarumi.
After dropping the first and second sets, Samsung Fire fought back in the third set.
After being down for the entirety of the first set, Samsung Fire pulled off a dramatic deuce at 22-24 with a quick open from Shin Shin-ho.
At 26-27, Hong Min-ki’s quick open tied the score again, and at 27-28, Ha Hyun-yong’s fast break tied the game. Park Sung-jin followed up with an open attack and blocked an attack from Takahiko Imamura to complete the comeback. 메이저사이트
With the momentum on their side, Samsung Fireworks took the fourth set.
After a late attack by Kim Jung-ho at 16-14 and back-to-back service aces by Park Sung-jin, Samsung Chemical fought off Panasonic’s charge and scored the 25th point at 24-23 on a Kim Jun-woo kill.
It was only at the end of the fifth set that the match heated up.
After a seesaw game, Panasonic was on match point at 13-13 with an open attack from Tarumi. Kenyu Nakamoto made an open attack through Kim Jun-woo’s block to end the long game.