Serbian Women's NT 2025 - The Hour of The Boss

    U16 team is ready to play qualification tournament in Bulgaria for U16 ECH


    Setters:

    #2 TEODORA GAKOVIĆ (PROLETER, ZRENJANIN)

    #9 NINA GAŠIĆ (TENT, OBRENOVAC)


    Opposite:

    #10 ANĐELIJA TADIĆ (OMLADINAC, NOVI BANOVCI)


    Liberos:

    #13 VANJA BUGARČIĆ (BEOGRAD)

    #14 VANJA ĐORĐEVIĆ (STERIJA, BEOGRAD)


    Middle Blockers:

    #3 ANJA PILIPOVIĆ (TENT, OBRENOVAC)

    #4 JOVANA MILIĆ (AS, BEOGRAD)

    #5 ANA MILENTIJEVIĆ (RADNIČKI BLASTERS, BEOGRAD)

    #6 ISIDORA JAKOVLJEVIĆ (CRVENA ZVEZDA)


    Outside Hitters:

    #1 MAGDALENA MANDIĆ (TENT, OBRENOVAC)

    #7 LANA ĐURAŠ (TENT, OBRENOVAC)

    #8 TEODORA ZEC (CRVENA ZVEZDA)

    #11 IVANA RADOVANOVIĆ (AS, BATAJNICA)

    #12 TAMARA STANKOVIĆ (CRVENA ZVEZDA)


    Wide Roster

    #16 Purtić Sara - OH

    #15 Pavlović Sofija - S


    Ana Martinović(MB) - Injured


    zpe1.jpg

    Quote from briebriebrie

    Very similar to the squad of Balkan U16 2024, which didn't have a good rank then. Only Tadic and Pilipovic are the newcomers. But Tadic is one of the few players who already have adults match experience.

    Yes, and Nemanja Zekic will not coach them for this tournament.


    Probably formation


    Tadic - Gasic

    Zec - Radovanovic/Mandic

    Pilipovic - Milic

    Quote from briebriebrie

    Mandic is best scorer last year as an OP, so she starts to receive balls now? Hope she and Tadic can exist and score.

    I think Zec was player to go.


    I did not watch Mandic since that championship, but i know Tadic and her teams Omladinac and Jedinstvo Stara Pazova won most of the youth tournaments.

    Quote from Russia13

    I don't know if Serbia will be able to produce "another" Boskovic, but apparently Russia is trying.


    https://x.com/thankwilnext/status/1886728370852958651

    this would be better suited for the Russia thread lol. But I will say impressive video. She actually does have similar mechanics to Tijana though unlike many other lefties.

    Quote from Madden54

    this would be better suited for the Russia thread lol. But I will say impressive video. She actually does have similar mechanics to Tijana though unlike many other lefties.

    I don't know about that. She has more off days than good ones. Not very consistent yet as a scorer. Uralochka doesn't even touch top 5 in Super League.


    She may improve significantly if the setters were not as bad in her club. I would like to see her play outside of Russia.

    Quote from Karl

    I don't know about that. She has more off days than good ones. Not very consistent yet as a scorer. Uralochka doesn't even touch top 5 in Super League.


    She may improve significantly if the setters were not as bad in her club. I would like to see her play outside of Russia.

    well again this is topic for Russian thread but I didn’t say she was going to be Tijana or anywhere close lol. I just said I see similarities in the way they move which is a big deal for a young player to have good mechanics.

    Quote from Karl

    I don't know about that. She has more off days than good ones. Not very consistent yet as a scorer. Uralochka doesn't even touch top 5 in Super League.


    She may improve significantly if the setters were not as bad in her club. I would like to see her play outside of Russia.

    Then, before the U17 European Championships in 2020, she got COVID and then in 2021 she suffered a very serious knee injury, which made her miss the U18 World Championships that year.


    I think all of these are issues because she is not a regular player yet.


    But let's leave that for another topic.

    I’m excited about Lazovic actually. Now that Busa is likely gone I think she’ll finally get a real chance to prove herself as an OH 2 player

    Gonna grade some of our players club performance so far. Not everyone just some I want to talk about :)


    Lazovic - A


    Good start to the season but then had a little bit of a slump for the middle but is absolutely back with a vengeance with just spectacular performances back to back to back lately. She looks so smooth in attack and I’m really excited to see her this summer with hopefully an expanded role.


    Aleksic - A


    she is absolutely one of the best and most complete middles in the game right now. Coming off an incredible 24 point game last week. She was in good form last summer too but really seems to be in her prime right now.

    Kurtagic - B


    In her first real season for a big club she’s been pretty good. As we all expected the blocking is there most of the time and it’s exceptional. The attacking is still bad and I’m not sure she’s really gonna be able to develop that skill for a club like Milano where they want to win all matches and don’t have time to nurture her attacking.


    Uzelac - B


    Overall she’s doing a very good job in a hard team to manage. She often receives like every single serve and attacks a ton of balls for Zeren. She’s had some incredible matches and some poor ones which is to be expected. I would like to see her work on her vision more and stop swinging into blocks in bad situations but overall very promising.


    Maja - A

    She looks incredible for scandicci this year and has really found a new fire in my opinion. Only complaint is she forces Linda a bit too much but that’s all.


    Boskovic - B-


    Has had good games against good teams which is more important but I’m lowering her grade because she’s looked very uninterested and poor in matches against middle teams which is unusual for her.

    Drca - C+


    Still on a good day is elite elite but has been a bit messy at times as well. I do think people are a bit too harsh on her though and could be in for a rude awakening if fb signs someone like Orro thinking they are upgrading here lol

    What do you think ideal 14 player squad would be?
    For me

    Ognjenovic, Perovic

    Boskovic, Mihajlovic

    Uzelac, Dangubic, Ivanovic, Tica

    Aleksic, Kurtagic, Osmajic, Kocic

    Jegdic, Gocanin


    I guess it’s still unknown if Drca, Bjelica, Stevanovic, Mihajlovic, Popovic, Pusic, Busa are done with NT.

    I would only include Drca if she wants to come and if Mihajlovic is unavailable then Taubner as 2nd OP. Eventually Busa could find her way as stable OH option just in case.


    Uzelac/Dangubic

    Aleksic/Kurtagic

    are locked duos for starters, hope we don’t see many surprises with Terzic in that regard.

    I guess Maja/Tijana is also locked for WCH at least.

    Busa is done at least for me. Her choice to go to Greece shows me she’s done caring about high level volleyball and is just enjoying life now. I curious to see if Kocic gets a call. She has good stats whenever I look at her performances

    When Stevanovic was at his peak, Terzic took her out of the NT, now that she is in decline and a reserve for her club, I doubt she will return to defend the Serbian national team.


    And Zoran has always loved Popovic MB and she has a great season in the Russian league, she just won't be there if her injury is serious.

    Assuming stevanovic and popovic are retired, don't you guys have anyone else as 4th mb except kocic? She is not bad but kinda meh for me. Especially considering Serbia has tradition of always having great players at this position for last two decades.


    Everyone here know about my opinion on Busa but this time she really no business to be in NT after terrible season in Aras and now just vacationing in Greece😂


    By the way how is lozo doing this season? Is she totally out of picture?

    Quote from serdar

    Assuming stevanovic and popovic are assumed, don't you guys have anyone else as 4th mb except kocic? She is not bad but kinda meh for me. Especially considering Serbia has tradition of always having great players at this position for last two decades.


    Everyone here know about my opinion on Busa but this time she really no business to be in NT after terrible season in Aras and now just vacationing in Greece😂


    By the way how is lozo doing this season? Is she totally out of picture?

    We have enough blockers, for example Masa Kirov is best blocker in french league.


    About Lozo, she is enjoying life in Japan, playing every second game. She will be in the team for sure, but i dont think she will made to final 14 for WCH.