The four-time defending Big Ten champions are taking their show on the road.

Wisconsin’s volleyball team will travel to Europe for a 12-day, four-country tour in June that will include at least six matches against teams from Turkey and Italy as well as other visiting federation or club teams.

This will be Wisconsin’s first foreign Trip since 2019. All members of the 2023 roster will be able to play.

The tour will provide the Badgers with an opportunity to further integrate newcomers Carter Booth and Saige Damrow to the team, while also adding graduate transfer Temi Thomas-Ailara to the mix.

The experience will also provide an opportunity for match action to the handful of players who didn’t play during spring scrimmages: Outside hitters Sarah Franklin and Ella Wrobel, middle blocker Caroline Crawford, and Damrow missed all three matches. Right-side hitter Devyn Robinson sat out the final scrimmage.

“We get 10 practices heading into the trip and hopefully we’ll have our whole team able to participate in those,” UW coach Kelly Sheffield said in a press release. “It’s almost like a preseason with practices and meetings heading into the trip. Then once we get over there the opportunity to play elite competition, explore new countries and cultures, and to really spend time bonding as a group is invaluable.”

The trip will be a homecoming for libero Gulce Guctekin, who is from Istanbul, Turkey, and will have a chance to play against her former team. The Badgers will also play in Maribor, Slovenia, where the coaching staff first saw outside hitter Julia Orzol play.

The Badgers will make stops in seven cities.

“There is so much opportunity for individual and team growth on a trip like this and we are all looking forward to it,” Sheffield said.

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