Ognjenovic celebrates 300-cap milestone by leading Serbia to EuroVolley semis
Story of the day
Serbia advanced to the semifinals of the women’s CEV EuroVolley 2021 after claiming a 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-7, 25-20) victory over France in Belgrade, but a special focus in the celebrations at the Stark Arena on Wednesday night fell on setter and captain Maja Ognjenovic, who marked an important milestone in her career, 300 caps with the national team.
In a small ceremony before the match, Serbian national federation President Zoran Gajic honoured Ognjenovic by handing her a framed jersey with the number 300, with the numerous fans at the Stark Arena applauding the legendary athlete. Before that, the renowned volleyballer herself gave one of her national team jerseys to her French counterpart of Serbian origin Nina Stojiljkovic as a 25th birthday present.
Still, the French team tried to spoil the home side’s party by shocking their opponents in the first set of the quarterfinal, but the Serbs quickly recovered to snatch the next three and celebrate victorious. With Ognjenovic mastering the spiking opportunities, opposite Tijana Boskovic was on fire to contribute a fantastic 27 points to their team’s win. The setter did some scoring of her own, tallying seven points, of which three aces, three spikes and a block.
Maja Ognjenovic“It is a big motivation for me to have played 300 matches with the national team for the past 16 or 17 years. Actually, I didn’t know that today is the day of my 300th match. It is a big privilege to be a member of the Serbian 300+ club and I think I am the first woman to have reached this mark. It was very emotional when I received the shirt with the number 300, but most of all I am happy about tonight’s victory.”
Setter and captain of Serbia
Maja Ognjenovic has been a symbol of the women's national team of Serbia for years. She played when Serbia won the first major international medal in their history, the 2006 FIVB World Championship bronze. She played when Serbia conquered the World Championship title in 2018. Her courage, audacity and unique view on the game made her one of the best setters of all time and a true leader of the Blue Ladies. With her leadership, all the other girls on the team have trust in each other and believe in themselves.
Ognjenovic has won a total of 15 podiums from major world-level or continental-level competitions with the women’s national team, six gold, three silver and six bronze medals. In addition to the two World Championship medals, the 183-cm-tall playmaker claimed Rio 2016 Olympic silver and Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze, EuroVolley gold in 2011 and 2019, silver in 2007 and bronze in 2015, silver at the 2015 FIVB World Cup, two bronze medals at the FIVB World Grand Prix in 2011 and 2013, and three CEV European League titles from 2009 to 2011 and a bronze in 2012. She was named the Best Setter of the European Championships as many as four times, in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019, and of the European League three times, in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
The distinguished Serbian athlete, who turned 37 less than a month ago, has also had a very successful club career so far, having played in some of the world’s strongest national leagues, those of Turkey, Italy, Poland, Russia… In addition to numerous domestic championship titles and national cup trophies, Ognjenovic won the FIVB Club World Championship title in 2016 with Turkey’s Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul, as well as bronze at the 2019 edition of the competition as a player of VakifBank Istanbul. In the CEV Champions League, she earned silver in 2021 with VakifBank and bronze in 2017 with Eczacibasi, but she was honoured as the Best Server of the Final Four in 2015 when she played for Poland’s Chemik Police.
In the earlier quarterfinal on Wednesday in Belgrade, Italy faced few issues against Russia and mastered an emphatic 3-0 (25-20, 25-8, 25-15) win to advance to a semifinal clash with the Netherlands on Friday. Paola Egonu was once again the best scorer of the match, this time contributing 15 points to the victory.
