NANJING, China – For the second straight summer, Cal freshman Mima Mirkovic is bringing home a bronze medal from the FIVB World Championships.

After winning the bronze medal last summer at the FIVB U19 World Championships, Mirkovic and partner Kathryn Plummer repeated the feat at the U21 World Championships in Nanjing, China. Mirkovic and Plummer defeated Italy's Gaia Traballi and Ester Maestroni in the Bronze Medal Match on Sunday.

Mirkovic and Plummer rolled into the semifinals by going undefeated in pool play, which gave them an automatic berth in the Round of 16 in the 24-team field. They only dropped one set in pool play, and that came against Traballi and Maestroni.

Mirkovic and Plummer defeated 2017 U21 Asian Champions Pawarun Chanthawichai and Thatsarida Singchuea of Thailand in straight sets in the Round of 16 and recorded another straight-set victory in the quarterfinals over Canada's Nicole McNamara and Megan McNamara, who also play at UCLA. Mirkovic and Plummer finally met their match in the semifinals, where they fell to Brazil's Eduarda Santos Lisboa and Ana Patricia Silva Ramos, who went on to win the championship.

Mirkovic and Plummer qualified for U21 Worlds by winning the gold medal at the 2017 USAV Beach High Performance Trials.

Mirkovic will play for Cal's indoor and beach volleyball programs. Training camp for the 2017 indoor volleyball season begins Aug. 8.