VNL 2026

Serbia back to winning ways, while Kurtagic hits 100th kill block in VNL

After five consecutive losses, the European team shuts out Dominican Republic

Published 11:04, 19 Jun 2026

Dominican Republic (DOM) vs. Serbia (SRB) - Pool 5 - Preliminary Phase #108059256

Hena Kurtagic celebrates with her Serbian teammates

At only 21 years of age, Hena Kurtagic has already piled up over 100 kill blocks in the Volleyball Nations League. She reached that milestone on Friday, when her team Serbia finally snapped out of their five-match losing streak with a straight-set win over the Dominican Republic in Pasig City.

Watch the Volleyball Nations League 2026 on VBTV

The young Serbian talent contributed three kill blocks towards Friday’s 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-18) sweep of the day’s opening match in the women’s VNL. With that, Kurtagic jumped over the 100-stuff mark and currently stands on 101 kill blocks. She is only the second Serbian player to achieve that in the history of the VNL. Her more experienced teammate and captain Maja Aleksic was the first one and currently has as many as 178 VNL kill blocks under her belt. With Friday’s blocking tally, Kurtagic even surpassed her legendary compatriot Jovana Stevanovic, who has put up 99 stuffs on her VNL journey.

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Both Kurtagic and Aleksic chipped in with a total of six points each, while 21-year-old opposite Anja Zubic led the team with a match-high 16 points, including two blocks and an ace. Outside hitter Nina Cajic added another 13, also including two stuffs, while her 22-year-old cross-court teammate Branka Tica put away nine points, all in swings.

“I would like to congratulate my team. We did a really great job today. We are proud of the way we came back after yesterday’s loss,” Serbia’s 22-year-old libero Stefana Pakic told VBTV after the game. “It is really tough to play against teams like this, but I think we did a really good job in preparation and we gave our one hundred per cent. I am so happy that I got the opportunity to play and I did well. I hope I will get more chances to play…”

The Dominican Republic managed to match Serbia only in terms of kill blocks scored, mainly thanks to their middle Sthefany Gonzalez, who put up five of the team’s eight towards a team-high total of 11 points. The Caribbean Queens’ other middle Jineiry Martinez also reached the double digits with 10 points.

Serbia started this year’s edition of the VNL with a straight-set win over Thailand, but followed up with five defeats in a row, four of which they conceded in tie-breaker fifth sets. Now, they improved to a 2-5 win-loss record and 10 points and moved up to 10^th place in the current VNL standings. The Dominicans are the only winless team remaining in the league, trailing bottom of the table, in 18^th place on 0-6 and 1. With Friday’s success, Serbia also regained some ground in the FIVB World Ranking, surpassing Canada into the ninth place. Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic dropped a spot to number 13.

The competition day in Pasig City is set to continue shortly with a game between Japan and Czechia, serving off at 20:00 local time (12:00 UTC), while the day over in Bangkok has already started with the match between Ukraine and the Netherlands.