The Korean under-19 men’s volleyball team, led by coach Kim Jang-bin (Suseong High School), ranked third at the 2023 World Men’s Youth Volleyball Championships hosted by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). Korea won with a set score of 3-1 (25-18 25-19 21-25 25-23) in the 3rd and 4th place match against the United States held in San Juan, Argentina on the 12th (Korean time). In Korea, Yoon Seo-jin (Suseong High School), who is in charge of the captaincy, led the team with 17 points, Lee Woo-jin (Gyeongbuk Physical Education High School) with 15 points, and Jang Eun-seok (Sokcho High School) with 11 points. In the U.S., Florey Sterling scored 20 points, the most for the two teams combined, Kelly Shin 18 points, and Kearney Finn 15 points each, but the team lost.
South Korea got off to an uneasy start, conceding three consecutive runs in the first set. However, with Yoon Seo-jin at the forefront, he started chasing and took a 10-7 lead in the middle of the set. Afterwards, the score was added by tying the U.S. offense, and Jang Jang-seok and Jeong Song-yoon (Suncheon Jeil High School) middle blockers made a quick attack to 20-14 and seized the set victory. Korea, which gained momentum, took the second set and gained an advantage in the game. But the United States did not sit still. It was a close match until the middle of the third set, but at 16-16, the United States scored consecutively in front of me.
The United States made up for one set by winning the set. 토토 Korea ended the game in the 4th set. In the middle of the set, Yoon Seo-jin attacked and scored consecutively to take the lead to 11-7. In the middle of the set, Yoon Seo-jin and Lee Woo-jin blocked the opponent’s attacks one after another, widening the score to 20-16. The U.S. caught up 23-24 in the second half of the set. However, in the next rally, South Korea ended the match by reaching the match point with the United States serving.
With this, Korea took 3rd place in the tournament once again, 30 years after the 1993 Turkiye (Turkey) tournament. Kang Seung-il (Korean Air), who played as the starting libero for the under-19 national team, was selected as the ‘Best Libero’ in this tournament. France won the tournament. France beat Iran with a set score of 3-1 (25-22 16-25 25-18 25-21) in the final match held after the Korea-USA match.