MADISON — Two days after a loss in the Final Four and one day back from Kansas City, Kelly Sheffield spent Saturday morning in her office at Kellner Hall.
“I’m already on vacation now,” said Sheffield, who recently completed his 13th season as Wisconsin volleyball head coach. “That’s certainly not the case now.”
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This was necessary as the Wisconsin volleyball team quickly transitioned from an inspiring playoff run to a rapid roster rebuilding phase with transfer portal activity in full swing.
Five Wisconsin players have declared interest in entering the transfer portal – setter Addy Horner, outside hitter Trinity Shade-Serres, middle blocker Tosia Serafinoska and libero/defensive specialists Aniyah Warren and Mele Chen. With the exception of Horner, who stepped up during Charlie Fulblinger’s injury, none of those five has a starting role in 2025.
“Their departure is not an indictment of them or the program,” Sheffield said in a phone call with the Journal Sentinel. “I care deeply about them and their families, and I’d say they love, appreciate and enjoy their experience here. But you can also want more, and I’m happy to do that.”
Sheffield would be surprised by any additional portal departures, arguing that the current reality of transfer portal decision-making is “almost a rewiring” of how transfer decisions were previously viewed.
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“When people transferred years ago — what went wrong?” Sheffield said. “Either there’s something wrong with the program, or there’s something wrong with the players, or they’re being selfish. Sometimes these things happen.”
But with five players leaving following the Final Four defeat, Sheffield made it clear “this is not the way we would normally consider transfers”.
“Since being in the portal, I’ve heard from multiple players saying they heard from school X and school Y,” Sheffield said. “What do I think about this? So it’s more collaborative than ever.”
Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield delivers a message to officials during Wisconsin’s NCAA regional final win over Texas at Gregory Arena on Dec. 14, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
Sheffield and his staff “fully understand that they want to figure out what the next phase will look like as quickly as possible.” However, he did take issue with the NCAA delaying the transfer portal window from Dec. 7 to Jan. 5 because that window overlaps with the second and third weekends of the NCAA tournament.
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“This is an indictment of the timing of our current portal window,” Sheffield said. Advertisement
Wisconsin’s 2025 portal additions have worked out well for the Badgers, as Mimi Colyer is a finalist for AVCA National Player of the Year and Grace Egan and Alicia Andrew are stepping into starting roles.
The Badgers have several positional needs as Sheffield United and Wisconsin staff shop the transfer portal ahead of the 2026 season.
With Carter Booth and Andrew having exhausted their college eligibility, middle block appears to have become a position of need. Setter and libero/defensive specialist also emerge as positions where the Badgers need more depth.
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“We wanted to draft another setter,” Sheffield said. “Christian (Simon) is our only backcourt player so far. I would say it’s going to be two and we’ll definitely be looking at the others.”
This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kelly Sheffield ‘very supportive’ of 5 Badgers on portal
