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Kenya slumps to another defeat in FIVB World Cup


Kenya lost 3-0 (16-25, 16-25, 19-25) to South Korea at the Park Arena Komaki in an FIVB women’s World Cup on Friday afternoon.

Kim Yeon-Koung fired 20 points from the attack line to emerge the top scorers in the match. Kim Hee-Jin added 12 points for Korea, while Mercy Moim finished with 10 points for Kenya.

Korea shot a total of 43 attacks to outscore the Kenyan, who only charted 25 spikes. Korea served better with seven aces, but their opponents fared better in blocks 5-3.

Korea’s main hitter, Yeon-Koung, paced her attacks in the first set and placed them well in unguarded areas of the Kenyan court.

Moim tried to spark a scoring run but Yeon-Koung’s side had better advantage as Lee Soyoung and Kim Hee-Jin stepped in to bolster the Korean offence. Korea secured the first set with a comfortable cushion 25-16.

Kenya countered well in the second set that kept the score tied at 7-7. Korea managed to get out of a long rally with the African side.

HISTORIC VICTORY

The Koreans pulled away with a five-point advantage at the second technical timeout 16-11 and clinched the set 25-16 as they took advantage of Moim’s absence after she sustained a minor injury.

In the third set, Korea maintained their pace and jumped to an 8-2 lead at the first technical timeout. Kenya came back to within two points 19-17, but could not completely overturn the scores.

Earlier in the week, Kenya trounced Algeria in three straight sets of 25-14, 25-11 and 25-11 to seal a historic victory at Momotaro Arena, Okayama.

This was Kenya’s first ever win in this competition and it was achieved in style, against a fellow African opponent in a one sided contest that lasted just over an hour.

Kenya will return to face Serbia at the same venue in her penultimate match of the competition, which draws to a close on Sunday.