![South Korea's Kang Seo-hee attacks during a match against Bulgaria in the 2024 Volleyball Nations League in the United States on Wednesday. [FIVB]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/05/30/805e375d-0e81-4e42-8004-4548621b595a.jpg)
South Korea's Kang Seo-hee attacks during a match against Bulgaria in the 2024 Volleyball Nations League in the United States on Wednesday. [FIVB]
The South Korean women's volleyball team lost 3-2 to Bulgaria on Wednesday in their opening match of week two of the 2024 Volleyball Nations League (VNL), recording a losing streak after ending a 30-game losing streak in the tournament earlier this month.
The VNL is an international tournament involving 16 countries in multiple locations around the world.
New coach Fernando Morales' team returned to action in the United States on May 19 after finishing the first week of the tournament with one win and three losses.
South Korea lost the first set 25-23 but won the second 25-20 and the third 26-24, but Bulgaria fought back to win the fourth set 25-21 to force a fifth set.
The final set was very close, but Bulgaria broke the deadlock at 8-8 and then took it 15-11 for a final score of 3-2.
Wednesday's loss came despite five Korean players scoring in double figures for the first time in this year's VNL: Kang So-hee with 23 points, Lee Da-hyun with 17, Park Jeong-ah with 16, Jeong Ji-yoon with 12 and Lee Joo-ah with 11.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria only had two players in double figures: top scorer Merelin Nikolova with 28 points and Miroslava Paskova with 13 points.
At the time of writing, South Korea is scheduled to play Poland in the United States on Thursday, with the team scheduled to play Turkey and Canada later in the second week of the VNL.
Following their match against Canada on June 3rd, South Korea will tour Japan for three consecutive weeks from June 11th to 16th.
Baek Ji Hwan [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]
