Teammate, and fellow middle, Grace Pyatt made the game-winning block to win the fifth set 15-13. Following the game, she credited Jovetic as inspiration in completing the comeback.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ChristinaJovetic_1-1050x700.jpg\")
Fourth-year Kinesiology student Christina Jovetic is the captain of the Brock women\u2019s volleyball team.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cChristina came up to me during a critical timeout in the game and told me how much confidence she had in me and that I would go out there and get the winning block,\u201d Pyatt said. \u201cShe believed in me and helped us through the immense pressure we faced in that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jovetic and the Badgers are returning to the U SPORTS Championships for a third consecutive season after placing sixth overall last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited to go back because there\u2019s some unfinished business there,\u201d Jovetic said. \u201cLast season, we weren\u2019t quite sure what to expect, but this season we\u2019re more equipped with experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jovetic\u2019s volleyball journey began at the age of 12 when she tried out for the Niagara Rapids Volleyball Club and was quickly selected for the top team in her age group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to that first tryout to have a good time with my friends, but I didn\u2019t know what would come of it,\u201d said the 6-foot-2 Niagara Falls native. \u201cI fell in love with the sport and everything else I tried never felt the same as I do when I play volleyball.\u201d<\/p>\n
After graduating from Westlane Secondary School, Jovetic chose to enrol in Brock\u2019s Kinesiology program. The welcoming environment of the University, and the varsity women\u2019s volleyball team, made the choice easy for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole school feels like home. When I first met the team, they were welcoming and supportive when I was clearly nervous,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew then that this was the school I wanted to go to.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the court, Jovetic\u2019s development as a player coincided with the program\u2019s trajectory as one of the top teams in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cCJ joined our program as a right side and she barely played. She was always effective at using her height and physicality, but she was a little behind in some of her fundamental volleyball skills,\u201d Delaney said. \u201cWhen we moved her to middle in her second year it was like a dream come true. She\u2019s developed into one of the best middle blockers in the league because of her hard work and determination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside Pyatt, the duo combined for 63 per cent of the team\u2019s blocks.<\/p>\n
Offensively, Jovetic enjoyed a career-high hitting percentage (.318) this season while contributing 121.5 points. She finished the regular season fifth in the conference in service aces per set (0.42).<\/p>\n
Jovetic attributes her success to her teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m grateful for this group of incredible women. Everyone on our team contributes to our winning attitude. We have super stars on our team like Gigi Markotic, who pushes us to play free and is everyone\u2019s biggest supporter,\u201d Jovetic said. \u201cShe is an all-around electric and phenomenal person who can lighten up the mood and make a bad day so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that her leadership qualities are drawn from former teammate Emily Armstrong (BA \u201921).<\/p>\n
\u201cEmily pushed us every day in practice to be better and made each season the most memorable it could be. I constantly reflect on everything I learned from her as a leader,\u201d Jovetic said. \u201cOn Saturday, I looked up at her in the crowd when we were down 2-0. In that moment, I recalled how much she pushed us and it ignited me to push these women to win the next three sets and take the title back. She is the reason I am the leader I am today. I do it all because of her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brock is the No. 2 seed for the upcoming U SPORTS Championships and opens the quarter-finals against the host school, the University of British Columbia, on Friday, March 17 at 9 p.m. EST.<\/p>\n
All games from the eight-team competition will be webcast live on\u00a0CBC Sports<\/a>\u00a0digital platforms and\u00a0USPORTS.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christina Jovetic knows this is her last ride, but she doesn\u2019t take a single day for granted with the Brock women\u2019s volleyball team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":84161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,1,4,58],"tags":[256,4437,11331,7488,582,7584,4620],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84163,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84160\/revisions\/84163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}