The Serbian champions will face French side Etival ASRTT, the No. 4 seed, on November 11 in Novi Sad, at the start of Stage 2 of the Champions League. The Novi Sad team reached this round by winning first place in their group in August, thus qualifying among the top 12 European teams for the fourth year in a row. The group also includes Spanish UCAM Cartagena, the No. 8 seed. The two best-placed teams will advance to the quarterfinals.
“Both opponents are extremely strong, composed of experienced players. Etival, with Jieni SHAO, Yangzi LIU, and Christina KÄLLBERG in their line-up, are certainly the favourites against us. Australian Liu is ranked No. 30 in the world, and against Shao, ranked No. 55, we played last season — our player Aneta Maksuti managed to win at home,” explained coach Slobodan Stojanov.
Cartagena also have powerful assets.
“Maria XIAO, ranked No. 78, is very experienced; we haven’t managed to beat her so far. Tin-Tin HO from England plays the penholder style, which we rarely encounter. Fei QI, Jiao LI, Daniela ORTEGA… they have a deep and strong roster. It will be extremely difficult; we played them a few seasons ago and didn’t do well,” added Stojanov.
Still, the coach remains optimistic about this season.
“The situation is completely different now; the teams have changed significantly. We have experienced Russian players who are eager to prove themselves on the international stage. They showed their quality in the qualifications, and we hope to be competitive in this phase as well. The goal is, of course, to reach the top eight teams,” said the Novi Sad coach.
The Serbian team consists of Aneta MAKSUTI, Valeria KOTCYR, Valeria SHCHERBATYKH, Reka BEZEG, and Irina SLAUTINA.
