April 14, 2008

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NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane volleyball program added another Junior National Player, as head coach Liz Kritza announced the signing of Visnja Djurdjevic of Serbia. The 6-1 outside hitter from Zitiste, Serbia, was part of the Serbian Junior National Team, which finished in the top five in Europe in 2006.

Djurdjevic (a Roman transliteration of her native spelling Visnja Ðurđević and pronounced "veeshnya jer-jah-vitch") was coached by Zoran Kovacic on the Junior National Team, as she was part of the two-time Balkan Champions.

"Welcoming Visnja to the Green Wave Volleyball program today is another step towards sustaining a winning tradition," Kritza said. "[assistant coach] Sinisa [Momic] has again excelled at recruiting experienced talent from Europe that will help us to continue to advance the competitive level of this program. He has a unique ability to not only recruit players who can make a considerable impact, but more importantly to train them to continue to improve and consistently perform at a high level."

Djurdjevic also played with the Klek club volleyball team, which placed second nationally after winning a regional championship in 2007. With the Klek junior club team, she also helped her squad place second nationally. She attended Zrenjanin Gimnazija high school in Zrenjanin.

Djurdjevic was named the Best Athlete in Zrenjanin and earned the "Best Student-Athlete Award" from the Mayor of Zrenjanin, Goran Knezević.

"Coming from an environment where volleyball is one of the top sports will be an advantage," Momic said. "She has a very good training background playing for coach Zoran Kovacic. That level of training develops a very strong work ethic, competitive mentality, and ability to sustain a high level of performance."

"She is primed to have a very successful collegiate career and will have a big impact on the level of volleyball this team will play. Not only is she a very talented player, she is an accomplished student and understands how to find success both on the court and in the classroom... she will be very successful as part of the Green Wave family." She will join the 13 returning student-athletes from a Green Wave squad that went 28-6 last year and finished 30th in voting in the final AVCA Coaches poll, as well as Jordaliz Mercado, who signed on April 10. Tulane's returnees feature three AVCA All-America Honorable Mention selections and five All Conference USA picks.