Serbian Women's NT 2022

    Quote from Janko

    Not only that, but Italy and Turkey were both very young squads at the beginning of their rebuild with a few veterans to bolster them up (and not many of those played good), while Russia was IMO still reeling from last year's results and if I remember correctly had some coaching issues (not to mention that was the year Kosheleva really took a nose-dive in quality of her play). Netherlands was our only real rival, and credit to them for holding on in the final as long as they possibly could before being blown apart by Boskovic.

    Sorry but Turkey wasn't nor young nor rebuilt, but with the rest i agree.

    Quote from Bogdan

    Sorry but Turkey wasn't nor young nor rebuilt, but with the rest i agree.

    Ah yes, now that I've checked the full squads, you're right.:thumbup: I'm misremembering that. They didn't start the rebuild until the following year, but it's still true that not many of their players played good.


    Unfortunately, no subs, but it's well worth the watch if you understand. Not just Maja Aleksic and Sara Lozo, but Anja Spasojevic, and yet another proof of how media-savvy and charismatic Anja is. Presenter is a bit annoying, but whatever.

    We talked about Terzic so i remembered this film. Movie is about his time in serbian NT and rise of serbian volleyball in general.


    Guest stars was Jovana Brakocevic, Ivana Djerisilo, Maja Simanic and of course Maja Ognjenovic.


    Its worth watching, english subtitle are available.


    Display Spoiler


    Since he has spoken about the team, and how unexpectedly good half a dozen players played due to variety of circumstances, I have to once again observe just how unexpected this title was in some ways. Sure, we were 3rd favourites on most betting sites, and yes we won bronze in in VNL without Boskovic (showcasing how well-led the team was, and also displaying something of a preview of the aforementioned surprisingly good form of 3-4 players), but consider it from the perspective of comparison with the roster from 2018.


    In 2018, we had undisputed 6 world-class players, 4 of them being widely considered among the Top 3 at their respective positions (and all 4 playing different positions). In addition, we had a very stable libero who was amazingly well-adapted to play in a 2-player reception system (a system which we had brought to as well-oiled a state as it could possibly be with practice over the course of a 3-year period leading up to that competition).


    By comparison, a starting team this year consisted of:


    -MB who hadn't played for NT since 2018 (from that year's WCH, in fact), and who hasn't played as well for NT as during the club season at least since 2016 (and even with all that being said, she was only 1 of 2 undisputed long-term world-class players in the team)

    -Setter who also hadn't played for NT since 2018, who gave birth last year and who in any case prior to this year was, at best, merely a serviceable uninspiring setter who could get job done reasonably well

    -OH who was at times during Terzic's tenure dangerously close to being considered a new Malesevic (or Molnar, if you prefer); a second libero

    -2 OHs who were fighting for a starting place, one of whom was a shadow of her former self, and who was close to retiring during this last winter and the other exploded "out of nowhere" (as it were) just that summer, and it was a toss-up whether she could reasonably repeat such a performance


    Ironically, one of least problematic starters was arguably the one who disappointed the most when you view the entire tournament (Aleksic).:lol:


    All in all, I feel this tournament was something of a perfect lightning unexpectedly caught in a proverbial bottle. That is not to say that with a continued brilliant leadership by this coach and the sustained form from this summer of a few crucial players (Drca, Busa, Stevanovic and Lozo) we can't catch that storm again, but we shouldn't be surprised if it doesn't work out.

    yea it really came out of nowhere how good buša and drča played. I also think we don’t talk about Milenkovics contributions enough personally

    Tbh this is totally wrong, only question mark before this season was state of our outside hitters, last year was good and not great just because we didn't have second scorer in the team. For all other positions was clear that we have good replacements.


    When Lozo was discovered in VNL, and Mihajlovic showed that she is healthy it was obvious that we are one of the strongest team in the world. Of course no one was expected 9 games with 3-0 but gold yes.

    Quote from Madden54

    yea it really came out of nowhere how good buša and drča played. I also think we don’t talk about Milenkovics contributions enough personally

    Busa is only big surprise for me, i watched Drca last season and i know how good she can be with Tijana.


    Milenkovic played perfect role. Also she also improved a lot. She cant jump now, even spike hard. Cant wait to watch her in champions league this season.

    Quote from volleySrb

    Tbh this is totally wrong, only question mark before this season was state of our outside hitters, last year was good and not great just because we didn't have second scorer in the team. For all other positions was clear that we have good replacements.


    When Lozo was discovered in VNL, and Mihajlovic showed that she is healthy it was obvious that we are one of the strongest team in the world. Of course no one was expected 9 games with 3-0 but gold yes.

    um no without maja and Mirkovic being the back up in Tokyo setter was a HUGE question mark.

    Quote from Madden54

    um no without maja and Mirkovic being the back up in Tokyo setter was a HUGE question mark.

    Not really, Maja decided not to participate in WCH only after Drca announce that she would love to return to national team. Also Maja was on wide list for WCH in case something bad happen, so "Mirkovic only" as a setter was never a option.

    Quote from volleySrb

    Tbh this is totally wrong, only question mark before this season was state of our outside hitters, last year was good and not great just because we didn't have second scorer in the team. For all other positions was clear that we have good replacements.


    When Lozo was discovered in VNL, and Mihajlovic showed that she is healthy it was obvious that we are one of the strongest team in the world. Of course no one was expected 9 games with 3-0 but gold yes.

    Aside from your general tendency to overestimate us even when we don't deserve it, I did say to view it from the perspective of 2018 WCH squad and from the whole 2021 season. Of course after this year's VNL things looked much, much brighter than before, but that's also a part of my point and argument. You are downplaying how dismal things looked after 2021 season, and how in-between October 2021 and May 2022 almost everybody wrote us off as a serious contender for any gold.

    What do y’all think about the future of Lazovic and her place on this team ?

    Quote from Janko

    Aside from your general tendency to overestimate us even when we don't deserve it.

    I can agree with this, but OTOH i have to admit that i feel like you have slight but tendency to underrate our players, now for example to fit into this sensationalistic narrative of our success. This also happened during the tournament, minimal volleyball related but more fan-oriented "preparing" for failure.


    First of all, I think that our write-off after last year was completely wrong, even if it came from almost everyone. Pretty superficial, but even that is non important for this what I want to point out.


    A very nice analysis of the difference between the position and composition of our team in 2018 and 2022. I agree with almost everything, even the statement that even with the VNL bronze and even that position on the betting lists, our title was quite unexpected.


    But this "All in all, I feel this tournament was something of a perfect lightning unexpectedly caught in a proverbial bottle. That is not to say that with a continued brilliant leadership by this coach and the sustained form from this summer of a few crucial players (Drca, Busa, Stevanovic and Lozo) we can't catch that storm again, but we shouldn't be surprised if it doesn't work out."this i see wrong on many instances.

    The End with an almost inferior undertone which derives from a statement embellished by a wonderful stylistic writing, which denies the systemic basis of this success and attributes it to some sudden and poetically described luck. I strongly disagree with this part. As much as the performance and form of some players was unexpected (which I completely agree with), it speaks more about our mistrust, ignorance,..., than about the abilities of those players.

    Yes, the dice did line up and created some impressive charge with the resulting overall pleasant atmosphere with a great coach on top which all played a very important role in this success. We should not forget that all these players were part of the younger representative selections, coming from similar but different generations, which supports a serious and valid systemic approach to an important part of the development of these players. Even if we waited couple of years, it turned out that the selection was good and not random at all. Drca is perhaps the only player who jumps out of these frames and can really be credited with an almost cinematically inspiring story.