Part Two: Tess Clark Had to Flee Europe and Her Pro Team Ahead of Travel Ban

In the onslaught of the corona virus crisis, Cardinal Forever Tess Clark had to leave her professional volleyball team in Madrid and make her way back to the United States, and in some cases escaped the travel ban by just minutes.

When we left the story yesterday, Clark and her family had just been turned away at the gate in London for their flight home to Phoenix.

Watch her play for Alcobendas here! Read Part 1 here!

For Louisville fans, Tess Clark, who is still ranked No. 21 in the NCAA Division I in career hitting percentage, played at UofL from 2014-17. A member of the 1,000 kill club, Tess was both an offensive force with her hitting and a defensive force with her blocking. She is ranked in No. 8 in school history in block assists with 359. She is ranked fifth in school history in hitting percentage and that is with a year playing at the outside position. She made the move to the outside as a senior and is second on the team in kills and attacks and is fourth in blocks and has already broken her single season personal record in kills. She helped the Cardinals win the ACC Championship in 2015 and is a three-time All-ACC member and was on the All-ACC Freshman team as well. She earned AVCA All East Region Honors in 2014 and 2015 and was the AVCA East Region Freshman of the Year. An outstanding student, she was a fixture on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll and the ACC Honor Roll with a degree in marketing. She played her first year of professional volleyball in France, and was playing in Spain when the COVID-19 virus became a global pandemic.

So after getting turned away from the gate for your flight to Phoenix, what happened then?
Tess: It was crazy. We had to wait in line for hours, just to barely get a flight the next day. It was mayhem because no one knew on either side of the ocean exactly what was going on. The airlines didn't know. The security didn't know. This kind of thing had never happened before so they didn't know what to tell us. We had to spend the night Saturday and left Sunday. The United States said it was not accepting flights after Monday at midnight from the U.K. So once again we were just hours ahead of the ban to beat this crazy situation. It could have been way worse."

Where did they eventually send you?
Tess: "Sunday we flew to Chicago. We were one of the very first international flights to land into O'Hare. So we had heard that Chicago was terribly long in screening but thankfully we were the first plane in so each of our screenings only took about 20 minutes. They took our temperature and asked a lot of questions. That part turned out easy but it was luck of the draw which line you stood in. Some people at the back of the line had to wait a lot longer. We just happened to be in the front."

The logistics of moving that many people with so little lead time had to be monumental.
Tess: "We made it home to Phoenix. It was kind of comforting because throughout these airports it was all Americans just trying to get home. We were all in the same boat. So it was scary and there was so much anxiety but comforting to see families. Because every study abroad student had to leave so there were so many kids my age trying to get out with all their stuff and their suitcases. It was a big reunion of Americans trying to get out. I took all my stuff home from Spain. Since my parents were there, they had their suitcases so I was able to fit all my stuff. If they hadn't been there, I don't know how I would have gotten my stuff home."

In retrospect, you have to be grateful you made the call to head home. Talk about your decision process.
Tess: "I feel like the moment I decided to come home was when I read my friend in Finland, which had zero cases at the time, she was scared. She is a very level-headed person and she called me and said I am too scared to stay. That was my decision point. If she is scared up there where it isn't even bad, then I am in a country where it is already pretty bad and I knew then I had to get out. It was a wave of emotions at that point because my team was third in the league at that point, we were going to playoffs. We had a good chance to do so well, so that was emotional. I had to come to terms with if I left, I wouldn't probably get to go back for that. I am so close with this team. Just having to say goodbye to them was so hard. So sudden and not knowing. Andie was not able to say goodbye to anyone. She heard the news and the flight she booked as five hours later and she was gone. She didn't get the chance to say goodbye. I am thankful I got to say goodbye but it was draining. They totally understood but it still sucked. I think every girl over there can attest that it is a sucky situation. There wasn't anything else you could do. France was shut down. Spain was shut down. Germany was locked down. You couldn't travel within the European Union. France had to lockdown its airports and the girls I knew playing there got out of there within hours of the shutdown of air traffic."

There has to be a silver lining in all these dark clouds.
Tess: "I think it was a blessing in disguise that my parents were there to go through this with me because it was nice to have my people there. If I had to face the uncertainty of travel alone it would have been harder. I obviously love Europe, but I am thankful to be back home in America. I don't think it is as bad as it is going to be here judging from what I saw there. I feel healthy and I feel like none of my family members are showing any symptoms."

Is the CDC monitoring you and your family since you came in from a hot spot?
Tess: "When we got screened by the CDC, they said that we were on a 14-day self-quarantine. So while no one is monitoring us, we are very respectful of that. We haven't left the house. I have about five days left of only being home. We have to take our temperature every day and record it. My dad is working from home. My mom is a school nurse and the school system in Arizona are online classes only until April 10. She is still waiting to hear if they are going to cancel school for the rest of the year but it hasn't been announced yet. She's on vacation still technically. My sister goes to a small college in Arizona which is all online classes for the rest of the year. We are all home together."

You have to feel empathy for all the athletes who lost their championship opportunities or season. Talk about the range of emotions you have gone through.
Tess: "I think it is frustrating. As a professional volleyball player, you more than likely do not stay on the same team for more than one year. To have something that was so good and to be on a team that had a good shot at doing well in the playoffs it is frustrating that the situation came up. Obviously no one can control it, so there is no one to blame. All these teams have to deal with this crisis financially. The pro players don't really know when the teams will start looking for players again and that puts us at a disadvantage because Americans are probably last on the list to recruit and sign. There are just a lot of unknowns. It is out of our control. All these American girls who were over there are now home two extra months instead of being in the mix."

You are in some of the best shape of your life, what are you doing to keep your volleyball skills up to the professional level?
Tess: "It is not like we can go help coach clubs or play. They are all cancelled and facilities are closed. It is irking because my practices in Spain were so difficult and they went so much quicker and faster and they made me so much of a better volleyball player. Every single day for three hours I would do that and I got so good. I have only been home for a week and I can't find anything that was that high intensity. I am a very positive person. I am dealing with it. When you sit down and talk about it, you realize how sucky it is. "

Talk about your perspective of the big picture of this unprecedented crisis.
Tess: "I have perspective that my problem not finishing my pro season is insignificant when people are dying. Even as I was traveling, seeing these countries shut down and Americans who weren't as lucky as me and got stuck there. We were very, very thankful that we had a plane ticket home. Now being home in my safe home with enough food, we are more than grateful we aren't one of the people that are suffering. We are so lucky. When you think about it, every single person in the world has had something cancelled, or lost their business, every single person has been impacted in some way. The fact that we have our house and we have each other or isolated alone. There is so very much to be thankful for. I am supported by my parents and I am not in debt. All of the players lost our salaries for the rest of the season. So that is a bummer but then again in the big picture, thank goodness for the University of Louisville with my full ride there, I don't have debt. So it is just this period of waiting and we are just really lucky."

Tess Clark in a huddle with her professional team

Tess Clark in a huddle with her professional team

University of Louisville Athletics

Part Two: Tess Clark Had to Flee Europe and Her Pro Team Ahead of Travel Ban

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