15/04/2015 13:02
Katarina and Jovana: Serbia’s golden girls want more glory
News from the National Federations
Belgrade, Serbia, April 15, 2015. Serbia’s Katarina Lazovic and Jovana Kocic can boast a special feat as they are the current European U19 champions and U18 silver medallists. Lazovic and Kocic, who are playing as outside spiker and middle blocker respectively, recently claimed silver at the 2015 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship – Women in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Last year they were members of the Serbian national team that struck gold at the U19 competition held in Tartu, Estonia.
In addition to that, Lazovic and Kocic won gold and silver at last year’s Balkan Junior and Youth Championships, respectively. Lazovic – who is also the captain of the U18 national team – was named Best Spiker of last year’s Balkan Youth Championship and some ten days ago she made the ‘Dream Team’ of the U18 European Championship in Plovdiv as the second best outside spiker of the tournament.
“Both of our European finals ended up at the tie-break and it was very exciting,” Lazovic reckons. “I do not see any difference between these two medals, to me this silver medal from the U18 Championship shines as much as the gold we won last year in Estonia. I hope that this year I will have the chance to play for Serbia at both World Championships.”
“These are the biggest successes in my career so far and I am happy that we have claimed medals in both age groups,” Kocic adds. “I hope we can take medals from the upcoming World Championship too.”
Lazovic and Kocic are set to represent Serbia at this year’s FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U18 World Championship in Peru as well as at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Tbilisi, Georgia. They are also expected to carry Serbia’s hopes to make it to the FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship in Cyprus once their team joins the second and last round of qualifications in mid-May when they host the Czech Republic, France and Turkey in Ruma.
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