The women’s national volleyball team left for the U.S. to compete in the preliminaries of the annual FIVB Volleyball Nations League(VNL).

The national team, led by head coach Cesar Hernandez Gonzalez, departed for Shreveport in the U.S. state of Louisiana on Friday morning.

This will be the first international tournament since global star Kim Yeon-koung’s retirement following the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Pledging to confirm the competitiveness of young team members on the world stage, Gonzalez said his short-term goal is to earn points at the VNL under the new ranking system.

His long-term goal is to win a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

South Korea will first face off against archrival Japan starting at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Korea time.

Should the national team rank among the top eight, they will advance to the final round, opening on July 14 in Ankara, Turkey.