The Vietnamese women's volleyball players are in decline. How will Coach Tuan Kiet decide at the 2026 Asian Championship?

The two setters of the Vietnamese women's volleyball team for the 2026 Asian Championship are Kim Thoa and Yen Nhi. Will Coach Tuan Kiet select one for the starting lineup?

Besides the issue of first pass, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team is currently facing a problem with the setter position. With Lam Oanh absent, Coach Tuan Kiet has no reliable replacement.

The setters for the Vietnamese women's team at the 2026 Asian Championship are Kim Thoa and Yen Nhi. Neither gives a sense of reliability, especially Kim Thoa.

The player from VTV Binh Dien Long An has been the national team's setter for many years but usually served as backup for Lam Oanh. When Lam Oanh showed signs of decline, Coach Tuan Kiet used Kim Thoa as the starting setter, such as at the 2025 SEA Games.

However, since the beginning of the year, Kim Thoa has declined significantly; she can't block well and has poor sets. At only 1.73m tall with very limited jumping ability, she cannot block. This weakness was heavily exploited by the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand at the recent SEA V.Cup.

Kim Thoa's strength has always been her good coordination with the middle blockers, but at this point even that strength is not well demonstrated. Many of her sets are just slightly above the net, so they don't suit Bich Thuy's hitting range, as Bich Thuy has a high hitting point and prefers higher sets for spiking.

While Kim Thoa's form has declined greatly, Yen Nhi has not yet provided the necessary reliability because she has had few playing opportunities and often lacks the necessary coordination with the attackers when she enters the court.

However, Yen Nhi has the advantage of a decent height (1.78m) so she can block better than Kim Thoa. The question now is: who will Coach Tuan Kiet choose as the number one setter for Vietnam at the Asian Championship?

The Vietnamese team has always been weak in first pass reception. If the setting also has problems, it will be too difficult for the attackers to score. The 2026 Asian Championship is approaching very soon. We can only hope that the team will have "good days" so that the first pass doesn't fall apart everywhere, then the setter will have an easier time handling the ball.

The challenge ahead is enormous as we are in the same group with two very strong opponents: Japan and South Korea. Japan is a top women's volleyball power in the world, while South Korea is making a strong comeback.

South Korea is known for its difficult serves. At the 2026 AVC Cup, they thoroughly exploited Vietnam's weakness in first pass reception to win 3-0. What to do now? Honestly, we can only hope that Vietnam will be lucky to have "good days" so that the first pass and setting are not too unstable.