Luxembourg, February 2, 2021. As Polish club Chemik Police heads into their next round of Champions League tournaments, they will rely on their opposite Jovana Brakocevic-Canzian to spearhead an offense that ranked 5th in the first tournament by attack %. This is her first season in Police, with her last stint in the TauronLiga taking place 2 years ago with Grot Budowlani Łódź.

And so far, she has been a huge part of their season, scoring 354 points and helping Police to a 12-5 record in Poland. But for Jovana, the scoring just comes as a byproduct of trying to help her team achieve the best results: 

“I don’t chase the stats, I don’t chase the individual rankings. Team sports players don’t look at it like this, we are just trying to give the best for our team. Scoring points is just something that comes after, but really, who cares? As long as your team is playing great and winning, that is most important.” 

Coming into this week’s tournament with a 2-1 record, Police is looking to grab one of the three 2nd place spots that will advance them into the quarter-finals. But Police has been steadily improving their level of play throughout the season, winning their last 5 matches in Poland. 

 “We need to improve our general play. Our serve has big ups and downs. Our block can be amazing one game and in the next game the ball goes straight to the defense. So we are working very very hard in that. We are far from playing the perfect game, but trying hard to improve those elements of our game in the fastest possible way.”

They will have their work cut out for them, with Igor Gorgonzola Novara as the reigning Champions League winners and Dinamo-Ak Bars Kazan, who added Samantha Bricio to pair next to Samanta Fabris for this season. Given how small the margin is to advance to the next round, Brakocevic and Police will need to play their best volleyball of the season.