Posts by JoanaBG

This Serbian team will also play in week 3.

I don't expect much.

Yeah, it's definitely worth investing in Lazović and Lozo as the starting OH duo. I'm still praying that Brankica SOMEHOW recovers some of her previous form and adds a bit more firepower. She could be a joker card, at least. I hope Santarelli called her up for a reason and not just her name.

Aleksić is great and should be a lock in the starting line-up. Stevanović has for some reason never played all that well on NT after 2015. I actually thought she had a better connection with Bojana than Maja, but it didn't work so well in Ankara now. Kocić should be given a chance too.

Agree that Zelenović ain't it. Yeah she's tall, but that's it. I'd MUCH rather see Branka Tica there, but alas. Too bad that Sara Carić seems to be injured 90% of the time.

If we manage to get Lazović and Lozo as a reliable starting OH duo, this VNL will be a success regardless of the outcome.

And even more so if Mirosavljević shows she can be counted on.

Jelena Blagojević on the events during the semi against LKS:

"I'm still shocked, I can't believe what was happening. This victory felt bitter, we won and reached the final, but we didn't celebrate much. We know that it was the football fans who did it, but it's no justification. I even used to like them before, because they wear red and white shirts, which reminds me of Red Star, but now... It's better I don't say what I think about them. People have gone crazy!

The whole thing with Malwina started at the end of February when she said she wasn't going to leave Russia because she didn't feel threatened. Many people haven't forgiven her for that. A month later she changed her mind, left Russia and came to our club, but everybody remembers her initial statement.

Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has a right to have their own opinion and everybody should bear responsibility for their actions, but to me it's absolutely unacceptable to insult her in that way. At the end of the day, they didn't spare the rest of us either. They insulted me, they told me Serbia is supporting Russia, but they're not aware that I was personally involved in gathering aid for helping the Ukrainian refugees. They also insulted the American Bajema - apparently she's on Russia's side too! - they also insulted the other girls. And not just fans, the people from their club were doing it as well, which was especially shocking!

I hope this madness will end and things will settle down, so we can just focus on volleyball and the final series ahead of us."

Well it's the story of Serbian volleyball. If a player doesn't make it to a wide roster by the time she's 20, she's completely forgotten afterwards no matter what she does. I was hoping it would change with Santarelli.

This list is a bit of a letdown, TBH. It looks like something Terzić made on his way out and handed it to Santarelli. Mostly same old stuff.

Agreed that Jegdić deserved a call, Branka Tica as the best scorer of the league (at the age of 18!) definitely deserved a spot instead of Mijatović. They're still trying hard to make Kurtagić happen but she's currently not really better than other young MBs like Minja Osmajić or Veronika Đokić.

Hopefully Carić will manage to stay healthy for once and be starter in front of Bjelica. Also Jovana Mirosavljević should finally show what she's made of.

Serbia will play VNL without Ognjenović and Bošković.

The wide roster:

S:

Bojana Drča

Slađana Mirković

Mila Đorđević

Ana Jakšić

Rada Perović

OPP:

Ana Bjelica

Sara Carić

Vanja Savić

Jovana Zelenović

L:

Teodora Pušić

Sanja Đurđević

Tijana Milojević

Bojana Gočanin

MB:

Jovana Stevanović

Mina Popović

Maja Aleksić

Jovana Kocić

Božica Marković

Jelena Delić

Hena Kurtagić

OH:

Brankica Mihajlović

Bianka Buša

Bojana Milenković

Katarina Lazović

Sara Lozo

Sara Klisura

Jovana Mirosavljević

Mina Mijatović

Jovana Cvetković

Aleksandra Uzelac

Jelena Blagojević will be a part of the NT staff now.

Rašić won't be back, she's done with the NT. She'll be back to club volleyball once she's had a baby.

Stevanović hopefully will, but I don't think anyone knows yet.

It's official - Santarelli is the new coach.

https://www.ossrb.org/seniorke…ener-seniorki-srbije.html

LOL, I can't even imagine the NT without him. Truly the end of an era. But, the writing was on the wall and it was about time. The signs were there already last year. Everyone seemed to be going through the motions and we need a new energy boost.

Rumour has it that Santarelli will replace him. We'll see, I just hope they don't pick some of the useless Serbian coaches. It really is problematic that all this time we haven't managed to produce a coach to replace Terzić when the time inevitably came. Vladisavljev and co. are a joke.

I'm also wondering if Maja will be motivated to play with her "dad" not around. Anyway, it should be exciting.

Let's just fast forward everything to the Conegliano vs Vakifbank final

Quote from sloth

Terzic already said that he doesn't know or care about Praia.. Oh but he will soon enough

He claims that the interview is 100% made up and he's never even spoken with that journalist, and that everything he supposedly said about not knowing or caring for Brazilian teams is pure nonsense.

Yeah, they're showing at least one match per round. The last one was Schwerin vs Dresden.

I mean, they basically have 12 channels, that's a lot of time slots to fill And they're branding themselves as "the home of volleyball" of a sort, so there will be a lot of volleyball to watch this season along with the obscure football leagues such as Icelandic or Lithuanian But I guess getting Serie A in the mix was a bit too expensive unfortunately.

Perugia is such a collection of washed up, over the hill players - Diouf, Havelkova, Bauer. Hard to see them achieve anything significant.

Monza starting with Lazović instead of Brankica is a step in the right direction, now they only have to make Stysiak a starter and they're ready to go.

Too bad Sport Klub is not showing Serie A this season, instead we get Turkish league (yay!), Polish (alright) and German (yawnzzz - sorry Matthias).

She injured her arm in training and is now recovering.

Awww Milena Best of luck to her!

It's going to be weird without her around, even though she didn't play much the last couple of seasons. Even she says she's still not used to having so much free time Now she's going to relax, travel around, probably visit her birthplace in Kosovo after more than 20 years and hopes to have a mini-Milena soon

BTW, I really wish the Serbian media would be more creative. I think by now I know every single thought that's ever entered Maja's head and I get that she's eloquent and makes for a good interview, but I don't understand why it has to be her every single time while there are so many prominent players we barely get to know anything about.

I guess we'll find out soon enough if Terzić is staying. He says he's still motivated to continue, but at the same time he's fully aware that most of "his" players are on their way out and that perhaps the new crop of players coming in would work better with another coach who could build a new team from the scratch. He'll announce his decision shortly, but if he does step down, he has no idea who will succeed him and by the look of things, it won't be anyone from his circle.

There have been a lot of interviews with him lately and it's obvious how much he's mellowed down over the years (as indicated in the (in)famous "You're the best team in the world for me, screw them" timeout, which would have NEVER happened 10 years ago). And most of them have a certain melancholic undertone to them, which could indeed mean the end is near.

Also, he clearly says Italy is the best European team at the moment (even though it may anger his players or the Turks ) because they have the most depth and we clearly lack someone like Pietrini who he admires a lot.

Quote from Mycaptain

Just a question, because I really admire the Serbian NT but I don't now anything about the behind the scenes. Why isn't Jovana Stevanović part of the roster? Did she quit the national team or there is some other reason? She's an absolutely fantastic player and I cannot see many other MBs stronger than her around.

Basically she got upset that she lost her place in the starting line-up at WCh '18 and decided not to play on NT anymore.

Quote from Sisko

It was a really good watch, thanks JoanaBG

My favourite part was probably his conversation with Brakocevic, it's nice that even though they clearly had their problems they have moved on and are able to laugh about it now I also like the part about Citakovic getting pissed at all the Polish players.

Yeah, those were the highlights for me too!

I can totally imagine Vesna doing that I vividly remember that semi against Poland and she played like her life depended on it, I guess we now know why.

Quote from Bogdan

Beside all volleyball related things which i won't commented, let everyone who have interest to watch it without "presumption", but evolution of Maja's hairstyle it's iconic non volleyball realted thing from this movie.

I completely forgot about that goddamn awful hairdo from mid-00s I'm sure she's like "WTF was I thinking??!" when she looks back at it, but I can definitely tell I know how it feels

And Matthias, if you're going to watch it, beware that *the serve* is featured

OMG, this brings back SO many memories. I teared up a little. It's good! Watch it.