Inside Wisconsin volleyball's trip to Europe: Here's a day by day account

Class was in session Monday in the University of Wisconsin volleyball team’s film room, with Gulce Guctekin serving as lecturer.

The subject matter was something with which she was quite familiar — her home country of Turkey and, in particular, her home town of Istanbul. Her lessons ranged from the nation’s politics, culture and cuisine to some commonly used words and phrases.

It’s something of a tradition on college volleyball foreign tours to close out the trip a little something special.

Four years ago when the University of Wisconsin volleyball team toured Europe, it closed things out with a trip to Rome to go to the Colosseum, among other historic sites.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – The welcome to Turkey came in different forms for members of the University of Wisconsin volleyball team as they arrived for the start of their 12-day European tour early Saturday morning.

The Badgers got to Istanbul around 6:30 a.m., local time, following a flight of more than 10 hours from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Chances are nobody else in the graduation class of 2023 at Howards Grove High School had as memorable a day Sunday as Saige Damrow.

While the rest of her classmates were receiving their diplomas on a rainy afternoon at the school’s football field, Damrow was being toasted by her University of Wisconsin volleyball teammates on a purple yacht on Istanbul Bogazi, the body of water that separates the European and Asian parts of the city.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Izzy Ashburn has played against Temi Thomas-Ailara since their club days back in high school.

Now she gets to play alongside her for their final season of college volleyball with the University of Wisconsin. That’s both a thrill and a relief for Ashburn. A thrill because she will get to set one of the most dynamic hitters in the game. And a relief because she won’t have to be on the wrong side of some of those stress-inducing swings, at least in the matches.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – It all started with some late night scrolling on Twitter and the next thing you know, Nigel Hayes-Davis had his own personal rooting section for a big basketball playoff game on Monday night.

And then the former University of Wisconsin men's basketball great was hanging out with the Badgers volleyball team outside the fabled Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar and then joining them for lunch.

MARIBOR, Slovenia — Wednesday was transition day for the University of Wisconsin volleyball team on its European tour.

It started with a 3 a.m. departure from the hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, and within a few short hours the players were swimming in the chilly waters of Lake Bled in bucolic Bled, Slovenia — a 3-hour flight but a world away.

MARIBOR, Slovenia – Julia Orzol couldn’t wait to see her family on the University of Wisconsin volleyball team’s European tour. And she didn’t have to.

The Orzol family reunion came a day sooner than expected along the shore of beautiful Lake Bled in the heart of Slovenia. Call it a happy coincidence.

MARIBOR, Slovenia – University of Wisconsin volleyball sophomore Carter Booth isn’t losing any sleep over the 2023 NBA Finals. That doesn’t mean she’s not interested in the outcome of the series between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat.

Indeed, she’s no doubt the biggest Nuggets fan in the whole country of Slovenia, considering that her dad, Calvin Booth, is the first-year general manager of the team, which is two wins away from its first NBA title.

MARIBOR, Slovenia — No mas.

Or as they say in Slovenia, nic vec.

VENICE, Italy — Kelly Sheffield instructed his University of Wisconsin volleyball team to get lost Saturday.

And that’s just what the Badgers players did as they spent more than three hours roaming around this picturesque “City of Canals” before regrouping for dinner.

MILAN, Italy — Kelly Sheffield didn’t even get to finish his question before the answer came back at him with ringing conviction.

After finishing a tough five-set match against the best team the University of Wisconsin volleyball team has faced on its foreign tour and the grind of traveling taking its toll, Sheffield asked his Badgers if they were up for another match against the Italian National B Team.

MILAN, Italy — The University of Wisconsin volleyball team said arrivederci to the competition part of its foreign tour on Monday with a tightly contested loss to the Italian National B team.

The Badgers closed out their tour with a 21-25, 22-25, 24-26 loss to the Italians. The teams agreed to play a fourth set that the Badgers won 25-21.

ZURICH, Switzerland – Tim Kelly was flummoxed.

Kelly, the founder and owner of Bring It Promotions, the company that operates foreign tours for volleyball teams, had called Jess Williams, the director of operations for the University of Wisconsin volleyball team, to check on some details about the program’s then-upcoming trip to Europe.