The head coach of the Slovenian women's national team, Alessandro Orefice, has named a squad of 21 volleyball players for the upcoming national season, in which the team will participate in the European League and the European Championship.
The Slovenians will open their European League campaign with a tournament in Montenegro (June 5–6), where they will face the hosts and Georgia. This will be followed by a competition in Ljubljana (June 12–14) against Iceland and Latvia, and the third tournament is in North Macedonia (June 19–20), where their opponents will be Croatia and the hosts. The main goal is to qualify for the semi-finals.
Preparation begins on May 4 in Kranjska Gora. Initially, players who have finished their club commitments earlier will get a chance, and from mid-May, all key figures will join the camp.
The squad includes almost all leading names from recent years. Mirta Velikonja Grbac (for personal reasons) and Katja Banko remain off the list. Among the new faces are Iza Koren and Zoja Donko, while Živa Labinjan is still awaiting her official debut.
"We are entering the third year of this project and will continue to build upon trust and team spirit. We have players at a high international level, as well as young talents whom I want to see in action," Orefice told the federation's website.
In the second part of the season, Slovenia will participate in the European Championship (August 21 – September 6), which will be held in Azerbaijan, Sweden, Czechia, and Turkey. The team is in Group A in Istanbul along with Germany, Turkey, Poland, Latvia, and Hungary.
photo:volleyballworld.com
