The Two Greats in Women’s Volleyball – Zehra Gunes & Isabelle Haak

The Two Greats in Women’s Volleyball – Zehra Gunes & Isabelle Haak
Debprasad De, 1977 Civil Engineering

Zehra Gunes, Setter.
Height 1.97 m (6’6”) Spike 3.19m (10’6”), Block 3.10m (10’0”)
Serve 100kmph, Spike 100-130kmph.

At this moment, Turkey is dominating the world women’s volleyball, and Zehra Gunes (pronunciation: [zehɾɑː ɟyˈneʃ]; born 7th July 1999) is the Turkish professional volleyball player, a specialist in the middle blocker position. Currently, she plays professional league for Vakıfbank Istanbul and is a member of the Turkey women’s national volleyball team.

Zehra Güne started playing volleyball at VakıfBank at the age of 12, and 2 years in a row, she won both the Turkey Stars and Youth Championships. At the age of 15, she played for Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesporand won the Turkish Championship in youth teams. In the 2015-2016 season, she played for VakıfBank’s second team, which was promoted from the 3rd League to the 2nd League as the Champion. She played in Beşiktaş in the 2016-2017 season on loan. At the end of the season, she became the Turkish Champion again with the VakıfBank Youth Team. Zehra Güneş, now playing for VakıfBank A Team since 2017-2018 season, won 3 FIVB Clubs World Championships, 3 CEV Champions League, 3 Turkish League, 3 Turkish Cup and 2 Turkish Super Cup with the yellow-blacks.

Let me give a brief on FIVB Clubs World Championships, and the CEV Champions League,

Founded in France in April 1947, The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (English: International Volleyball Federation), known by the acronym FIVB, with Its headquarters at Lausanne, Switzerland is the international governing body for all forms of volleyball.

The Women’s CEV Champions League, formerly known as CEV Champions Cup (from 1960 to 2000), is the top official competition for women’s volleyball clubs of Europe and takes place every year. It is organized by the Confédération Européenne de Volleyball (CEV) and was created in 1960 as CEV Champions Cup. In November 2000, it was officially presented in Florence under a new format and renamed CEV Champions League.

While the Turkish National Team won the gold medal in the 2023 FIVB Nations League and CEV European Championship, this year Zehra Güneş won the best middle blocker award in both tournaments.

Honours:
Paying for professional VakıfBank S.K.
• 2017 Turkish Women’s Volleyball Super Cup – Champion
• 2017 FIVB Club World Championship – Gold Medal
• 2018 Turkish Women’s Volleyball Cup – Champion
• 2017–18 Turkish Women’s Volleyball League – Gold Medal
• 2017–18 CEV Women’s Champions League – Gold Medal
• 2018 FIVB Club World Championship – Gold Medal
• 2019 FIVB Club World Championship – Bronze Medal
• 2020 Turkish Super Cup – Runner-Up
• 2020–21 CEV Women’s Champions League – Silver Medal
• 2021 FIVB Club World Championship – Gold Medal
• 2021–22 CEV Women’s Champions League – Gold Medal
• 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship – Silver Medal

Playing for the National team
• 2017 U23 World Championship – Gold Medal
• 2018 Nations League – Silver Medal
• 2019 European Championship – Silver Medal
• 2021 Nations League – Bronze Medal
• 2021 European Championship – Bronze Medal
• 2023 Nations League – Gold Medal
• 2023 European Championship – Gold Medal

Individual
• Most Valuable Player, 2021–22 Turkish Women’s Volleyball League
Best Middle Blocker
• 2015 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U18 World Championship
• 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship
• 2019 FIVB Women’s Club World Championship
• 2021 FIVB Women’s Club World Championship
• 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship
• 2023 FIVB Women’s Nations League
• 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship

• Vestel Special Prize: 2017–18 Vestel Venus Sultans League (“Vestel Special Prize” is the Vestel Venus Sultans League, which is the Turkish top-level volleyball league sponsored by Vestel.)

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Isabelle Haak

Isabelle Haak, Opposite.
Height 1.95 m (6 ‘5”), Spike 3.30m (10’10”), Block 3.16m (10’4”)
Serve 100kmph, Spike 100-130kmph.

Isabelle Haak is considered as one of the world’s best players, part of the Generation O of several top-calibre female opposites of the century like Serbia’s Tijana Boskovic, Italy’s Paola Egonu, Turkiye’s Ebrar Karakurt and Poland’s Magdalena Stysiak that currently dominate the world of women’s volleyball.

Haak made her international debut with the Swedish national volleybal team against Latvial in May 2014 at the age of only fourteen, and thus became the youngest ever volleyball player to represent Sweden at senior level.

“Isabelle Haak may not be well known in Sweden, but she is one of the world’s absolute best volleyball players, and as recently as December she was named the Club World Championship’s Most Valuable Player when her new Italian club Conegliano took home the trophy. During her previous years in Turkiye, Haak was dubbed ‘Queen of the north’, and now in Italy she is known as ‘the Swedish Queen’.”

Isabelle Haak, the Most Valuable Player of the last two editions of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship, was named among Sweden’s 100 Women of the Year. It was the second consecutive time the 23-year-old opposite of the Swedish national team and Italy’s Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano entered the Expressen evening newspaper’s list of outstanding female role models, published on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2023.

Isabelle Haak (born 11 July 1999) the Swedish, now plays as an opposite for the Italian club Imoco Volley Conegliano and the Swedish national team. She started playing volleyball at the youth teams of her hometown club Engelholms VS and at the age of 14 made her debut for the first team in the Elitserien. She became part of the starting line-up of the team in the 2014/15 season and helped Engelholms VS win the Swedish Championship for two consecutive seasons. She was elected Player of the Year by the Swedish Volleyball Federation in both 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons.

After two successful seasons in Engelholm, Haak signed a contract with the French club Béziers VB for the 2016/17 season, and reached the final at the French Cup where they lost to Venelles 2–3 in a very closely contested match. However, she was the top scorer of the French League in the regular season, and voted the MVP and the best opposite spiker of the season. At the end of the season, Haak joined the Italian side Savino Del Bene Scandicci.

In her first season in Italy, Haak became the scoring champion of the league with 491 points, averaging the season’s highest 6.14 points per set, and was selected for the All Star game while her team Scandicci finished the regular season in second place, just one point behind Igor Gorgonzola Novara. In the playoffs, Scandicci eliminated Volley Pesaro in the first round but lost to Imoco Volley Conegliano in the semifinals.

After two seasons in Italy, Haak joined Turkish professional team VakıfBank S.K. in 2019, and won both the Turkish Cup and the Turkish League in the 2020/21 season. Isabelle Haak was also selected as the MVP (Most Valuable Player) in the Turkish League this season. In Haak’s third season (2021/22) playing for VakifBank S.K. she won 5 out of 5 titles with her club: The Turkish Super Cup, the FIVB Club World Championship, the Turkish Cup, the Turkish League and the CEV Champions League. Haak received the MVP awards in both the Club World Championship and the Turkish Cup.

In 2022 Isabelle Haak left Turkey and went back to play in the Italian LVF Serie A1 league but this time for Imoco Conegliano. With her new club she won 4 out of 5 titles in her first season: The Italian Super Cup, the FIVB Club World Championship, the Italian Cup and the Italian League. Haak once again received the MVP award in the Club World Championships, and she also received the MVP award in the Italian Cup.

She was the member of the Swedish U19 teams that won the U19 NEVZA (North European Volleyball Zonal Association) Championships in 2014 and 2015.

Honours:
Individuals
• 2014–15 Elitserien “Player of the Year”
• 2014–15 Elitserien “Top Scorer”
• 2015–16 Elitserien “Player of the Year”
• 2015–16 Elitserien “Top Scorer”
• 2016–17 Ligue A Fémminine “Most valuable player”
• 2016–17 Ligue A Fémminine “Best opposite spiker”
• 2016–17 Ligue A Fémminine “Top Scorer”
• 2017–18 Lega Pallavolo Serie A Femminile “Top Scorer”
• 2019 FIVB Club World Championship “Best opposite”
• 2020–21 Turkish League “Most valuable player”
• 2020–21 CEV Champions League “Top Scorer”
• 2021 FIVB Club World Championship “Best opposite”
• 2021 FIVB Club World Championship “Most valuable player”
• 2021–22 Turkish Women’s Volleyball Cup “Most valuable player”
• 2021–22 Turkish League “Best opposite”
• 2021–22 CEV Champions League “Top Scorer”
• 2021–22 Best Female Volleyball Player of the Year by CEV
• 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship “Most valuable player”
• 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship “Best opposite spiker”
• 2022–23 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) “Most valuable player” [24]

For Clubs
• 2014–15 Elitserien – Champion, with Engelholms VS
• 2015–16 Elitserien – Champion, with Engelholms VS
• 2016–17 Coupe de France – Runner-Up, with Béziers VB
• 2019 Turkish Super Cup – Runner-Up, with VakıfBank S.K.
• 2019 FIVB Club World Championship – Bronze medal, with VakıfBank S.K.
• 2020 Turkish Super Cup – Runner-Up, with VakıfBank S.K.
• 2020–21 Turkish Women’s Volleyball Cup – Champion, with VakıfBank S.K.
• 2020–21 Turkish League – Champion, with VakıfBank S.K.
• 2020–21 CEV Champions League – Runner-Up, with Vakıfbank S.K.
• 2021 Turkish Super Cup – Champion, with VakıfBank S.K.
• 2021 FIVB Club World Championship – Champion, with VakıfBank S.K.
• 2021–22 Turkish Women’s Volleyball Cup – Champion, with VakıfBank S.K.
• 2021–22 Turkish League – Champion, with VakıfBank S.K.
• 2021–22 CEV Champions League – Champion, with Vakıfbank S.K.
• 2022 Italian Super Cup (Supercoppa Italiana) – Champion, with Imoco Volley
• 2022 FIVB Club World Championship – Champion, with Imoco Volley
• 2022–23 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) – Champion, with Imoco Volley
• 2022–23 Italian League – Champion, with Imoco Volley
• 2023 Italian Super Cup (Supercoppa Italiana) – Champion, with Imoco Volley

For National team
Junior team
• 2014 U19 NEVZA Championship – Gold Medal
• 2015 U19 NEVZA Championship – Gold Medal
Senior team
• 2018 Women’s Silver European Volleyball League – Gold Medal
• 2022 Women’s Silver European Volleyball League – Gold Medal
• 2023 Women’s Gold European Volleyball League – Silver Medal

References:
• FIVB website
• https://women.volleybox.net/
• https://www.vakifbanksporkulubu.com/en/playerdetails/zehra-gunes-p31
• Wikipedia