Croatia NT 2014

    I really hope Vercesi will give a chance to Matea Ikic this summer, she deserves to be back in Croatian NT and she can be so useful for the team because she is a better passer than Usic, Jerkov and Topic. Nobody expected her to play so good this season in A1, she is being stable at both reception and attack, there are not so many OH like this nowadays.


    Croatian roster for Wch2014 should be like this:


    S: Brcic (starter), Grbac


    OPP: Fabris (starter), Popovic


    MB: Poljak, Milos, Cutuk


    OH: Jerkov, Usic, Topic, Ikic


    L: Malevic


    Maybe Hana Cutura can have a chance too, while for Klaric it's too early I think.

    Cutura is having a bad season in Japan so I dont think the possibility of seeing her in NT this year is very high... agree with Brcic being starter as well as Ikic coming back to NT. the only missing one is probably Jelena Alajbeg. I think she's a better player than Usic plus she's 3 years youger...

    Let's bring discussion here :D
    I also think Topic is a better player than Senna.
    Do you have any idea about line up of WCH qualification? Vercesi choose Mia and Senna :rolleyes:. Maybe it's language issue? He talked italian to starters.


    About Samanta, She is very powerful, sometimes reminds me Glinka ^^ .
    For sure she has bight future, I won't forget her superb performance in 2013 ECH playoff match vs Nertherlands!

    Quote from Canter


    she is another Croatian OH...she is (most probably) better than Senna Usic..she is supposed to be..lol


    Quote from Canter


    im serious....she must be better than Senna Usic....most of the "just good not much" OHs are better than Senna. i watched her little, she is better attacker than Senna for sure.


    Quote from Emil

    Topic is a very underrated OH. She is 1,87cm tall, 31 years old and played in Spain, Romania, Germany, Russia and also for ECZ many years ago ;) (Not many people know that she played in Turkey...)


    IMO, She is the best croatian OH among with Mia Jerkov. Both of them played as starters on NT last ECH and they made a great success! Obviously Topic is not a world-class OH but is a great player with great motivation, team works. Her reception may be a bit shaky sometimes, but if you want to compare her with Usic, I'd definitely say she's a better player than Usic. Usic is completely overrated, on the other hand Topic is underrated.


    Plus, She worked with Tore Aleksanderssen before (same with Hanke and Kauffbelt) so I believe It's going to be an advantage.


    Quote from crovolley

    She is better than Senna for sure! But I think that Croatia has better OH than Mira and Senna :whistle: ...Matea Ikic and Katarina Barun for me are much better .Karla Klarić is the future ,She has a lot of potential. :D :D


    Quote from crovolley

    Give her 2 more years and she will be the BEST OPP in the world !!! :cup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BJEWf57G6s
    What do you think about Samanta ?


    Quote from Emil

    I think she is already the best one in Croatia and perhaps in Serie A too :heart: simply better than Popovic and Alajbeg...despite I'm a fan of Sanja, I have to admit it.


    Quote from serdar

    Barun is not an OH :rolleyes: Karla Klariç is always considered as prospective player but she didn't improve much in Volero in last two seasons. Matea Ikiç is a good defensive player whereas both Mia and Mira surpass her with their offensive power. To me best Crotian OHs are Jerkov>Topiç>Usiç>Ikiç>Cutura>Klariç. Indeed Crotia might have OH-wise richest roster in Europe :thumbup:


    Quote from USAvolleyfan

    Topic is a solid OH, and a good receiver especially for her height, but I don't think she is ahead of Senna. People are judging her too much after this season.. and after the rumors about her and Micelli came out everybody is really hard on her.. She is a good player and she has showed, even this season she was playing better just before Cl F4.. and during


    Quote from GreekToksoyFan

    i love her style when she hits the ball.. :heart: by the way it looks like she is very strong,watch those attacks.. 8|


    Quote from GreekToksoyFan

    i love her style when she hits the ball.. :heart: by the way it looks like she is very strong,watch those attacks.. 8|

    S : Bernarda Brcic
    Opp : Samanta Fabris
    MBs : Maja Poljak & Ivana Miloš
    OHs : Mia Jerkov & Mira Topic
    L : Martina Malevic


    This is the most ideal line-up for Croatia.

    Quote from akiyaLai

    Let's bring discussion here :D
    I also think Topic is a better player than Senna.
    Do you have any idea about line up of WCH qualification? Vercesi choose Mia and Senna :rolleyes:. Maybe it's language issue? He talked italian to starters.


    About Samanta, She is very powerful, sometimes reminds me Glinka ^^ .
    For sure she has bight future, I won't forget her superb performance in 2013 ECH playoff match vs Nertherlands!


    I don't think it's the language.. If needed her teammates will translate for her.. Vercesi has previously worked with Senna so maybe that's why he chose her.. We will see how things will go this summer..


    About Fabris.. I agree she is powerful, but I think she should be a starter in big tournaments.. she should ply as much as possible to get experience, but she is really unstable, which is normal for her age. I don't think Croatia has the luxury to let young players play in big tournaments as USA did at WCH 2010 (Hooker, Foluke, Alisha, Larson) so Sanja should be a starter IMO

    Quote from Emil

    S : Bernarda Brcic
    Opp : Samanta Fabris
    MBs : Maja Poljak & Ivana Miloš
    OHs : Mia Jerkov & Mira Topic
    L : Martina Malevic


    This is the most ideal line-up for Croatia.


    this team could have passing problems...
    where is/has been Brcic playing?
    Croatia has good players for all the positions except setter pos.

    Who doesn't have passing problems anyway? :D I think with Jerkov, Topic and Malevic it's not going to be such a disaster...probably with Marina Miletic who is basically a libero (she's more or less like Marcon or Beier) it will be better, but still not bad at all.


    Brcic played for Urbino in Italy last season and she played very well there. She's 23 years old and is 190cm...very tall for a setter. (Ana Grbac is also 1,88cm) She obviously lacks in experience and perhaps is not ready to handle all the strong pressures when the match gets extremely tighter...same problem for Grbac as well. But I think she's a good setter and she knows how to use her attackers aside. Grbac is also okay but she stayed at bench all most whole season in Baku, so I'd rather prefer Brcic as starter.

    I'm afraid that Topic won't play in NT this year. Tore Aleksandersen said that he would work with Impel's foreign players (except of Kauffeld) since August because they are not going to play in their national teams... :whistle: .

    Karla Klaric is better than Cutura and Usic :wavy: For Ikic I don't know but Karla is improving so much in her passing :rolleyes:

    Nothing is certain. She basically had a season-off in Moscow...she only played a few matches that Obmochaeva wasn't available. There were a couple of rumors about her and one of them was she wants to go back to Poland but nothing official yet. I see the only place she could go is unfortunately Azerbaijan. :thumbdown:

    Is she interest play in China League

    Quote from Emil

    Nothing is certain. She basically had a season-off in Moscow...she only played a few matches that Obmochaeva wasn't available. There were a couple of rumors about her and one of them was she wants to go back to Poland but nothing official yet. I see the only place she could go is unfortunately Azerbaijan. :thumbdown:



    Is she interest play in China League?

    Martina Malevic Croatian libero will not be with NT on Grand Prix this year :// ;( ;( ;(

    Quote from crovolley

    Martina Malevic Croatian libero will not be with NT on Grand Prix this year :// ;( ;( ;(

    Someone who checked rosters on FIVB had already known it ^^ Matea Ikic (though she did pretty well in Italy as OH) and Nikolina Bozicevic are listed as Liberos

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

    Croatia NT roster for World Grand Prix
    S: Brcic , Grbac ,Biljana Gligorovic
    OPP : Fabris , Popovic , Alajbeg
    OH : Nikolina Jelic , Mira Topic , Mia Jerkov , Karla Klaric ,Senna Usic , Nikolina Kovacic ,Marija Usic
    MB : Bernarda Cutuk , Maja Poljak ,Ivana Miloš ,Iva Jurisic ,Antonija Kaleb ,Tamara Susic ,
    L : Matea Ikic ,Nikolina Bozicevic
    I'm verry disappointed because of Martina Malevic (L)
    But this look good .We will see :)) :dance6:

    roster looks really good, that's a pity that Malevic will not be able to play, but I hope Croatia will show their great volleyball during WGP and also WC ;)


    Why is Hana Cutura missing?