Serbian Women's NT 2023

A little summary for our game from my perspective:

Uzelac is rising star for our team (I’ve been her biggest fan for a few years now, and I’m so happy to see her finally play big games )

She would do even better if she got to start games against weaker teams first, but it was tough schedule for us and she still performed.

I would like her to get more responsibilities in reception, but its not safe to try against such strong teams so I understand someone else occasionally covering for her but she has been very solid in defense so far.

She is an amazing server and I’m glad it finally shows, I’m waiting for her to get even more comfortable to start putting even bigger serve preassure

Bjelica is not finding her rythm yet

Drca tried playing faster, it may take some time to adapt to whatever style they are trying to play.

Busa/Lozo arent having their best performances, they can do so much more, and I don’t wanna be too quick to judge

Aleksic/Popovic doesn’t work and Kurtagic should be let in to play. She is incredibly talented, one of the best MBs, if not the best, of her generation in the world. AMAZING blocker and not that strong attacker, but she can’t do worse then Popovic in that segment anyway

Closing blocks has been a problem in all 3 games, Stevanovic will help in that in second week with how fast she is to close the block and get good touch to help defense

Guidetti still doesn’t have the courage to put Popovic on the bench when she isn’t performing, my only worry is that he woluld do the same with Maja

All in all, not too bad, but I wish we would have done better

I am silent reader for this community. For me this serbia team doesnt find their rhythm yet. I know they can do a lot better even w/o bosko, stevanovic, maja.

Uzelac is serbia new attacker and she is really doing good. But her teammmates doesnt help her. I agree with Cofi, she needs to start with the help from the veterans. Look today. Their motivation gone. Try other oh. Today he try lazovic and she is doing good. Why must you try the same lozo-busaa when they are not doing so good in 2 matches before?

And seriously, we need a blocking from mb. Gio needs to try Kurtagic-aleksic duo. Why you bring other her but you not using her.

I still have faith on them ❤️❤️❤️

Quote from WZP

I don't like to use this word but I have to: I really hated Guidetti's behavior today. Also I have impression that is doesn't make Serbian players comfortable.

I was pretty horrified when they hired him but everyone seemed kinda excited for this "challenge". I just don't see how he can make this team better

(For those that like long posts, get yourselves a drink )

Okay, soo... Going from 12/12 in WCH to 0/4 in the first week of VNL is certainly jarring. The knee-jerk reaction is that the coach is the one to blame (which I have seen from many users) but I would disagree. If we compare all of the starters from last VNL to this year's, no one is at the level of last year and it's not even close. The first week was very tough considering the opponents, and the only loss that should be considered a failure is match vs Canada without KVR, but even that went to 5 sets. I personally didn't take issue with Gio's behavior during the matches because I was also ready to throw my laptop across the room in every set we played. He was never overly critical during timeouts but just pointed out tactical mistakes so I think that the point that he was affecting them negatively is just a reach tbh. Another week of training and time together should help them adjust to each other.

Drca's performance is the biggest surprise for me. I watched a couple of her games in the Russian league and she was at the WCH level. But at this VNL, so far she has shown that she losses her cool too often(she had 3 major mistakes in the 2nd set vs Canada and the biggest reason that the momentum changed in that game) and her passing consistency is not there, with a lot of balls too close to the net in the most important moments and a lot of changes in hight of the ball in all positions. Gio seems like a coach that doesn't like to preplan where the balls should have to be set, but setting to the middle on perfect passes should definitely be more of an emphasis going into week 2 imo.

Lozo started really slow. Even with her improved passing(very slightly) and defense, her attack wasn't good enough to play with Bjelica that wasn't a reliable option this week. She was simply fading in the biggest moments at the end of the sets throughout the week.

Busa with absolutely awful performance outside of game 1. I had 2021 summer flashbacks. I think her defense and reception is still good enough to have a role, but if she doesn't limit the number of block points she gives up, she won't be seeing the court. Subbing her while she is on the net with Lozo off the bench would be my preference, but we will see if she bounces back in week 2.

Middle blockers were basically a non-factor for 3 games straight. In the match vs Canda they blocked the opposing players so many times but Canada's floor defense was too good with a lot of possessions where they had 3 or 4 chances to repeat the attack before they managed to break through the block. Not sure how that is gonna improve with Stevanovic, but a much more reliable option on the slide is definitely gonna raise Maja's level because I feel like forcing her to attack with the slide wasn't working which probably affected her confidence.

Bjelica's performance is honestly not a surprise. I watched the end of her season in Romania and she basically got played off-court with backup OPP playing the final vs Blaj. Sucks that Taubner got hurt because she would have gotten a lot of playing time this week. Zelenovic is definitely an improvement on Bjelica and with her 200 cm an improved block, which is gonna be huge even for just double subs.

Lazovic seemed like a good sub for a change of energy. I would like her to be used for a serving sub and then to stay for defense and reception like Satareli was using her last year.

And finally, the star of this week - Uzelac. Confession time. Uzelac was awarded the best young female volleyball prospect in Serbia last year at the ceremony after the WCH. After it, she posted a picture with Maja and Tijana on Instagram with a caption about playing with them in Paris. I personally found that to be very arrogant of her considering that we were just coming off gold in WCH and it didn't look like there was a place for her yet, but she proved me wrong. She looks ready for the big stage. As the matches went on she was still scoring at a high rate, which I didn't think was gonna happen with better scouting as at matches when on. I guess the real test is gonna be in the next 2 weeks, but she definitely took her spot for this summer imo.

My wish for the starters next week:

Drca - Bjelica (Mirkovic - Zelenovic double sub every set)

Stevanovic - Aleksic

Busa - Uzelac (Lozo sub when Busa is at the net)

Pusic (Jegdic should also get a chance in at least 1 game)

*I would also like to see Tica on the next week's roster but not sure instead of which player at this point.

I don't know if I understood the press conferences correctly but Guidetti said he'll announce the lineup tonight after practice

Yes. Drca and Popovic out. Stevanovic is going, as expected. The full list coming tonight. (or tomorrow if our federation has the speed they usually do)

Let's hope Jedinstvo is in the house

And Jakšić please no no

Hena posted a photo from Novi Pazar on the IG story so I don't know whether to treat it as deleted or not

Quote from Bogdan

Osmajic 🥹, but If the plan were the same since begining, to try both Kurtagic and Osmajic, they should have been swapt. Osmajic had to play first week as slider next to Popovic and Aleksic. Other changes are .

Bjelica-Mirkovic

Stevanovic-Osmajic

Uzelac-Lazovic

Jegdic

🥰

Huge disappointment, Milenković over Tica is disgrace.

And again tent player as a "sub" just to be on the list. Let's hope this time we will not need to actually register her.

Believe it or not, Mirkovic is signing this song is called "sport dance" and is for children

More about song, other girls are there plus Milena Rasic

Quote from volleySrb

Believe it or not, Mirkovic is signing this song is called "sport dance" and is for children

it’s really catchy and she has a nice voice. Happy for her

Quote from volleySrb

Believe it or not, Mirkovic is signing this song is called "sport dance" and is for children

Wow! Finally something she is good at!😂

We are in Brazil