Haak’s 32 push VakifBank on to Champions League quarterfinals

Reigning club world champions VakifBank Istanbul secured the top of the standings in their CEV Champions League pool and a spot in the quarterfinals of Europe’s most prestigious club competition with a 32-point contribution from 1.95m-tall opposite Isabelle Haak. The Turkish powerhouse claimed their fifth win in the pool to stay unbeaten since the start of the tournament.

The 22-year-old Swedish star delivered three aces and two kill blocks towards VakifBank’s convincing 3-1 (21-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-12) victory at Italy’s Vero Volley Monza, their main rival for the first place in the pool. Haak registered a spiking success rate of 53%, putting away 27 kills, including the match winner, and earned the MVP award of the match. She is the overall leading scorer of the pool stage so far on a total of 101 points, or an average of 7.77 points per set.

Her teammates Michelle Bartsch-Hackley and Chiaka Ogbogu of USA and Gabriela Guimaraes of Brazil chipped in with 12 points each, while 21-year-old Polish opposite Magdalena Stysiak scored 19 for the hosts from Monza.

In VakifBank’s opening match of this Champions League campaign in November, they defeated Vero Volley at home, also in four sets, after coming back from a set down. With one leg to go, the Turkish team lead the Pool B table on a 5-0 win-loss record, followed by their Italian opponents on 3-2, and France’s ASPTT Mulhouse and Finland’s LP Salo on 1-4 each.

While Vero Volley still have a shot at advancing to the playoffs as one of the three best-ranked pool runners-up, three teams from other pools have also already secured their tickets to the quarterfinals as pool winners. They are Italy’s Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano, silver medallists of December’s FIVB Volleyball Club World Championship, Igor Gorgonzola Novara, and Poland’s Developres Rzeszow.