Vietnam Women's Volleyball 2026: First-Pass Focus in Training Camp

Hanoi, November 12, 2026 — After three weeks of training in Hanoi, the Vietnam women's national volleyball team has entered the phase of finalizing its line-up ahead of a series of friendlies and domestic competitions in the closing months of the year. The coaching staff said the focus of this training camp was the first pass. The head coach stressed that the quality of the first contact determines whether the team can run its full attacking options. "When the first pass does not go to the right position, the setter is forced to play the ball out of system, and then we can only rely on the individual ability of our hitters," he said at a short press briefing after practice. According to observations by our reporter, during competitive drills the team's rate of accurate first passes rose noticeably compared with the mid-year camp. This is one of the most important indicators in the modern women's game, because it determines whether the setter can deliver the full range of attacking plays. Rotation management was also carefully calculated. In rotations with only two attackers in the front row, the team's attacking power drops, and the coaching staff has prepared compensating options through quick attacks and back-row combinations. The order of serving and positional rotation has therefore become an important part of tactics, rather than the matter of chance many still assume it to be. Team captain and outside hitter Nguyen Thi Hoa shared: "We practise receiving far more than in previous years. When the first pass is steady, the whole team can play to plan, instead of just closing our eyes and hitting the ball over the net." Setter Tran Thi Lan said she had spent most of her training time improving her ball control and her reading of opponents' serves. The women's team now combines veteran hitters with young players promoted from provincial teams such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh and Thanh Hoa. The coaching staff assesses the generational transition as proceeding smoothly, though it remains concerned about the depth of the bench in long matches. While men's volleyball already has a long record of international competition, the women's side still has few chances to test itself against foreign opponents. Friendly matches with visiting international delegations, expected in the coming period, are seen as a valuable opportunity for young players to get used to the pace and power of top-level volleyball. On the spectator side, the women's team's recent matches have drawn larger crowds, especially in localities with a volleyball tradition. Many students and young women have begun following and practising the sport, an encouraging sign for the women's sports movement in general. At the end of practice, the head coach put it briefly: "We do not set goals with words. We set goals with the number of balls we receive." The team will enter its next series of matches with a line-up that is almost settled, in which stability in the first pass is regarded as the key.