Serbian Women's NT 2024

    I've read months ago that there was supposed to be some friendly matches with Russia. is that cancelled now?

    Quote from Daisy

    Yes. But it has been announced that friendly tournament will be played in Poland in July and Poland, Serbia, France and DR will participate. This will be preparation for OG.

    Thanks! As I thought, the friendlies with Poland, France, and DR replaced the friendly match with Russia. Such a shame. Would've love to see Russia NT in action even if it's just in friendly games. I hope that the Russian Volleyball Federation would organize friendly tournaments like Yeltsin Cup in the past and invite teams like Serbia, China, and Brazil so that Russia can at least get some international experience while being banned from FIVB competitions.

    Quote from Batabid

    Thanks! As I thought, the friendlies with Poland, France, and DR replaced the friendly match with Russia. Such a shame. Would've love to see Russia NT in action even if it's just in friendly games. I hope that the Russian Volleyball Federation would organize friendly tournaments like Yeltsin Cup in the past and invite teams like Serbia, China, and Brazil so that Russia can at least get some international experience while being banned from FIVB competitions.

    Yes, it is indeed shame for Russia but right now i see it amazing that serbia will play with some potential rivals at Olympics.

    Quote from Batabid

    Thanks! As I thought, the friendlies with Poland, France, and DR replaced the friendly match with Russia. Such a shame. Would've love to see Russia NT in action even if it's just in friendly games. I hope that the Russian Volleyball Federation would organize friendly tournaments like Yeltsin Cup in the past and invite teams like Serbia, China, and Brazil so that Russia can at least get some international experience while being banned from FIVB competitions.

    Russia will start preparation 2 late in the summer, so it was not possible.

    Finally found some time to take a look at our performance during week 3. I expected us to beat France tbh, it was totally winnable game and we should have won it but choice to serve deep and risk it lost us the game. It’s a shame but hey, that’s the risk of playing with youngsters, although that loss was totally on coach. We played best against Italy and solid against Netherlands.


    Now as for some individual performances:

    Setters: Miljevic was solid as expected, she really grew as a player compared to week1, she didn’t play a lot but overall not bad.

    Perovic was highlight of this week for me. Amazing performance considering it was her NT debut and she is only 23yo coming back from ACL injury. She was so solid in all aspects of her game and she showed she really has potential to be starter after Maja and Drca, she is already 3rd in line amongst our setter for me personally (it’s bias a bit cause I’m her fan for a long time :lol:)


    Outside hitters:

    Ivanovic is obviously another highlight of this week. She has it all and we have future starter right there. Her passing got better as time went by and she got more used to pressure of playing big games. If she stays healthy she will be elite all around OH thanks to her tehnique. She got out of her comfort zone and attacked OOS balls on some crazy angles which is something she’s not used to as she played only as OH2 last 2 seasons and mostly attcked in system balls. Really outstanding. If we can make reception work, Uzelac/Ivanovic could be starters next summer in my book, not that they are bad passers but lack of experience is huge factor there.

    Tica had her long awaited NT debut. Solid performance, she showed she can actually pass and defend which is rly good for a player of her age. Last game she struggled and we could see that physical disadvantage will play a role in her carrier. She should have gotten more chances in attack against all other teams, it was bad coaching and tactics to overuse other OH and avoid her when she had solid numbers on those few sets she got to attack.

    Cvetkovic and Mijatovic got their chances, good for them, not NT level players.


    Middle Blockers:

    Cikuc and Malesevic, fun to watch and that’s it, not NT material and MB position was the biggest weakness this week.

    Too bad Osmajic bared small injury and couldn’t play and Sucuorovic didn’t get a chance, they are defenitely better options on that position.


    Liberos:

    Medved better then I expected. I’m too critical cause I’m not a big fan but she did fine. 70% positive reception is crazy good and there is no denying that but her defense is a big problem for me. Very solid performance and I’m happy for her, excited how she will do in LOVB.

    Gocanin on the other hand was everywhere and her floor defense is amazing, she was best player on the floor for us in many sets when others were just not delievering. She can cover others on reception really well but her inability to make perfect pass in general and even on some easy serves is frustrating.
    We really should have played 2 libero system and it would work so so well right there. Then again, both liberos got their chances and both played really well imo.


    Opposites:

    Bukilic great, I don’t think Bjelica in current shape could do better. Her attack was so much above my expectations, she is great great in that aspect, and her serve was really good. Everything else about her is amateurish and needs A LOT of work for her to be Tijana’s back up in new Olympic cycle (which is a problem cause she is already 25yo). Block, defence and net play simply doesn’t exist and it’s a problem.

    Vidacic was better then expected (I had very very low expectations tbh). Glad she got chance to debut and good for her, not big talent in any aspect but still young, hope she gets more chances in her club to play as starter first.

    Quote from Cofi

    Ivanovic is obviously another highlight of this week. She has it all and we have future starter right there. Her passing got better as time went by and she got more used to pressure of playing big games. If she stays healthy she will be elite all around OH thanks to her tehnique. She got out of her comfort zone and attacked OOS balls on some crazy angles which is something she’s not used to as she played only as OH2 last 2 seasons and mostly attcked in system balls. Really outstanding. If we can make reception work, Uzelac/Ivanovic could be starters next summer in my book, not that they are bad passers but lack of experience is huge factor there.


    This line is my full impression about her during Lajkovac days, she mostly attack in position 4, mostly system balls and there was just 2 scenarios, its a point or ball out for no reason (parallel), after that she start to get frustrated.


    I agree on the most part. But i dont think she have reception problems, at least not technical. Its mental for me, she doubt herself and this is reason why she send this overpasses, its all about handling pressure. She also very fast get frustrated.

    Perovic Gocanin and Bukilic were great. Ivanovic has so much potential. Tica is not NT material

    Girls played a game of matching teammates with “who’s most likely to” kinda thing


    Fashion Icon- Maja Ognjenovic ofc

    Most likely to have a candy with her-

    Hena Kurtagic

    Most likely to get lost on her way to the gym- Jovana Stevanovic

    Most likely to become stand-up comedian-

    Silvija Popovic

    Most likely to sing during game-

    Aleksandra Jegdic

    Most likely to forget lyrics to national anthem- Aleksandra Uzelac

    Most likely to weat 2 different socks-

    Katarina Lazovic

    Most likely to be late for training- Tijana Boskovic (She protested the decision to put her there :lol:)

    Owner of the zoo- Maja Aleksic

    Contagious laugh- Bojana Milenkovic

    Master chef- Sara Lozo

    Best hair- Bianka Busa

    Music Star- Sladjana Mirkovic

    Dancing queen- Mina Popovic (absolutely)

    Sleepy one- Ana Bjelica

    Team Mama- Bojana Drca

    Quote from Cofi


    Tica had her long awaited NT debut. Solid performance, she showed she can actually pass and defend which is rly good for a player of her age. Last game she struggled and we could see that physical disadvantage will play a role in her carrier. She should have gotten more chances in attack against all other teams, it was bad coaching and tactics to overuse other OH and avoid her when she had solid numbers on those few sets she got to attack.



    Actually i think Italy is one of her best games. We were down, mentally, she entered, stable the reception and after that we were able to finally play against italy. Attacking numbers was bad on the paper, but in reality she fighted with a really bad sets. If you only watched live game i can provide you video. As we know Perovic avoid her the whole tournament for some reason(even pakan reminder her at timeouts that she have position 4), same was last game. We can joke that Gocanin set her more balls than actual setter. Perovic send her mostly OOS balls that she cannot set to anyone else, but Tica handled them well, not OH on both side would do better with them. She always find solution, but italy literally dig them from the corners of position 1 with was ridiculous good. She made most of this point continue(recycle), and italy most of them just send back. There was only few system balls and she sideout them with no problem. She did not made silly mistakes, she was able to save almost all of this hard balls and buy as another rally. This is weapon for me, that was often not recognized or respected as power spike.


    And yes, its a shame that she was not set more often in first 2 games, where other 2 teams with a respect dont have a good block defense system as Italy.

    Quote from volleySrb

    This line is my full impression about her during Lajkovac days, she mostly attack in position 4, mostly system balls and there was just 2 scenarios, its a point or ball out for no reason (parallel), after that she start to get frustrated.


    I agree on the most part. But i dont think she have reception problems, at least not technical. Its mental for me, she doubt herself and this is reason why she send this overpasses, its all about handling pressure. She also very fast get frustrated.

    I totally agree with first part, both her and Uzelac had huge mental problems after a few mistakes they would make. It will come with experience for sure, realising that game continues and you have to do better in next point.


    I never said she had reception problems though, I agree it’s all mental and that’s why she was better in reception the more she played. She was statistically best passer among OHs in our league in 22/23 season before her injury, but even then reception line of her and Uzelac could easily get exploited if they just get 2 negative passes in a row, we all remember that. That’s why I said they could be extremely good but reception would need to be handled.

    Vanja is statistically best passer of our team this VNL (between OHs), her and Tica really made great reception line, it’s a shame we weren’t able to use it and play MBs more.

    Quote from volleySrb

    Actually i think Italy is one of her best games. We were down, mentally, she entered, stable the reception and after that we were able to finally play against italy. Attacking numbers was bad on the paper, but in reality she fighted with a really bad sets. If you only watched live game i can provide you video. As we know Perovic avoid her the whole tournament for some reason(even pakan reminder her at timeouts that she have position 4), same was last game. We can joke that Gocanin set her more balls than actual setter. Perovic send her mostly OOS balls that she cannot set to anyone else, but Tica handled them well, not OH on both side would do better with them. She always find solution, but italy literally dig them from the corners of position 1 with was ridiculous good. She made most of this point continue(recycle), and italy most of them just send back. There was only few system balls and she sideout them with no problem. She did not made silly mistakes, she was able to save almost all of this hard balls and buy as another rally. This is weapon for me, that was often not recognized or respected as power spike.


    And yes, it’s a shame that she was not set more often in first 2 games, where other 2 teams with a respect dont have a good block defense system as Italy.

    she’s painfully un athletic. She’s a very talented all around player but I do not think she is capable of being a good player for the A team or play in a top club

    I hope players from both positions get more chances in the next few events (especially the setters). I really liked Rada's performance. She wasn't in the VNL but I am excited for Vajagic in Wisconsin (+ Ivkovic in UCLA). Hope both of them grow their games a lot more in NCAA.

    Quote from volleySrb

    Apparently we will play friendly in Italy against Italy on July the 9th

    good. I wanted one more friendly against a top team

    Branka Tica, Iva Sucurovic and Natasa Cikuc just landed from Japan, and immediately sit in the car and travel to Slovenia to join U22 team.


    Osmajic is injured, and Ivanovic going to Kopaonik to join senior team.