The Illinois volleyball team is hoping to go far in the NCAA tournament this fall, but it’ll have to travel far this summer to prepare.

The Illini will conclude their organized practices for the offseason with an international trip to Italy from May 24 to June 2 to face off against a host of Italian teams, including the Italian junior national team. After the trip, coaches can no longer have contact with players until the fall season.

“I think it’ll be a good experience for bonding and seeing a new culture,” outside hitter Liz McMahon said. “We’ll be experiencing something new together, and the competition is going to be really good.”

Head coach Kevin Hambly said he was excited about the level of competition in Italy. The Illini will be facing older players with a wealth of experience from many years on the court.

“I expect that we’ll be challenged every match on the trip,” Hambly said. “We could potentially lose every single match on the trip.”

In addition to the skill level of the opponents, the teams will play a different style than the Illini are used to playing. The European teams are notorious for being extremely fundamental and don’t use speed or tempo to create chances. They rely more on traditional high balls to the outside hitters and try to “tool the block,” which means to hit the ball at the block in such a way that it deflects out of bounds for a point.

While playing against a different style could be a bit of a culture shock to some, the Illini are already used to that type of play and feel confident going into the matches.

“We’re more similar to a European team than some other teams we might play,” Hambly said. “It comes from my overall love of international volleyball and recruiting kids that can do those kinds of things.”

A few players on the Illinois roster already have some experience playing against European teams and playing overseas. McMahon played in both Singapore and Tijuana, Mexico, with the USA Junior National team. Libero Jennifer Beltran was on the United States Youth National Team from 2008-10, where the team earned 12th place at the World Championships and middle blocker Anna Dorn was named to the USA Volleyball High Performance team from 2007-09 and competed in Europe in 2008.

Adding to the experience, the players will also enjoy the benefit of not having to pay out of pocket for the international excursion. With fundraisers this spring, most noticeably the “Chop Chef” fundraiser on Feb. 28, along with booster donations, the trip’s costs have been covered for the players. Hambly, along with seven other local chefs, participated in a live cookoff event at the I-Hotel to raise money for the trip.

The Illini will stay in Italy for the entire trip, making stops in Venice, Bologna, Bergamo and Milan during the trek.

NCAA rules dictate the team can take one international excursion every four years, and Illinois was last in Italy, Croatia and Slovenia in the summer of 2008.  

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.