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#16 Jovana Bjelica
Position: Outside Hitter
Height: 5'10"
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Belgrade, Serbia
High School: Zemunska Gimnazija
Jovana Bjelica
Courtesy: FIUSports.com
Release: 05/18/2009

Freshman (2009): Saw action in 32 matches while starting 30 ... Made her collegiate debut on Sept. 4 vs. Kansas by recording a double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs and followed up that performance with a 13-kill, 13-dig outing vs. Lipscomb the following day ... Went on to post 10 double-doubles for the year, notching double-digit kills in 20 matches including a season-high 19 kills at WKU (11/6) ... Contributed 344 kills on the season to rank third on the team in the category while her kills per set mark of 3.34 was second on the squad ... Achieved a career-best attack percentage (min. 8 kills) at WKU (11/6) on the strength of 19 kills in 35 attempts against a pair of errors ... Also had a stellar outing vs. Florida Atlantic (10/6), hitting at a clip of .625 on six kills in eight total attempts with one error ... Notched 38 assists on the year, including a season-high six assists vs. Florida Gulf Coast (11/11) ... Established a season-high in digs with 19 vs. UALR (10/23) en route to a total of 249 digs for the year ... Ranked second on the team in block assists with 54, including a season-highs of four block assists and four total blocks, each on five occasions ... Tallied three solo blocks on the season while adding 57 total blocks ... Recorded 25 services aces to rank second on the squad, a mark which includes two three-ace outings for a season-high ... Totaled 399 points in her initial collegiate campaign to rank third on the team behind a pair of seniors ... Was tabbed Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year to become the second FIU volleyball player of all-time to win the award ... A second team All-SBC selection ... Received AVCA All-South Region recognition ... Was part of the first trio in FIU volleyball history to receive AVCA All-America honors along with Natalia Valentin and Yarimar Rosa ... Selected to the Rising Stars Team by College Volleyball Update (CVU.com).

Prior to FIU: A member of the Serbian Junior National Team from 2006-08 ... In 2007, led the team to a second place finish at the European Championship and a fourth finish at the World Championship ... Also helped the squad to a fourth place finish at the European Championship in 2008 ... Was named tournament MVP five times.

Personal: Born January 13, 1990 ... Daughter of Sinisa and Vesna Bjelica ... Has one brother, Bogdan ... Her father played basketball in national leagues for five years while her mother ran track for the Yugoslavian National Team ... Her grandmother played volleyball for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national teams ... Enjoys playing tennis, swimming, water skiing and reading ... Plans to major in business with aspirations of continuing in volleyball after college before obtaining a job.