During her freshman year of high school in 2010, Irem Asci sat down to talk with her parents inside her home in Ankara, Turkey.
With volleyball season approaching, she told them she was considering quitting the sport.
“It was a really hard time, going to school, while playing on the club team and high school team,” the Owls’ sophomore outside hitter said. “I was getting bored and I was not getting anything out of it. My mom and dad said ‘If you are not happy, you can quit, it’s your life’.”
After an invite to play for the Turkish junior national team, Asci could not walk away.