This past weekend, USC women’s volleyball had mixed results, dropping a tough match to Illinois in five sets before defeating Indiana in four sets the following day, splitting a tough slate of conference games on the road.

Against the Illini (17-7, 9-5 Big Ten), despite the defeat, senior setter Mia Tuaniga racked up 50 assists and a season-high six service aces. Graduate outside hitter Ally Batenhorst was the driving force behind the victory over the Hoosiers, racking up 21 points on 20 kills and finishing with a career-high 18 digs on defense.

The No. 23 Trojans (17-7, 9-5) now turn their attention to No. 6 Wisconsin (18-5, 12-2) and No. 11 Oregon (18-5, 10-4). This will be the first meeting between USC and the Badgers as Big Ten rivals, while the Trojans dropped a match to the Ducks in straight sets earlier this season. The Trojans have just four games remaining in the regular season after this weekend.

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USC has struggled against ranked opposition so far this season, so these matchups will provide another opportunity for the Trojans to prove they can hang with the elite teams in their conference.

“Our mindset is gonna be the same as it’s been all season this far,” said junior libero Gala Trubint in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “They’re big names, and they’re really great schools, really powerful teams and programs, but we can’t take them as more than what they are. Obviously [we] respect them, but [we] also treat them just like every other team.”

Wisconsin is fresh off a big win against No. 4 Penn State (23-2, 13-1) and is on a three-match win streak. The Badgers have dominated their competition as of late, winning their last three matches in straight sets and taking nine out of their last 10 matches.

A big part of Wisconsin’s offensive success can be attributed to fifth-year outside hitter Sarah Franklin, who leads the team with 361 kills and averages 4.46 kills per set. On defense, the Badgers are led by freshman libero Lola Schumacher, who has racked up 396 digs, averaging 3.65 per set.

This season, Wisconsin’s team identity is rooted in its physicality across the board. It has allowed them to dominate teams without the same size advantage — a pattern USC fifth-year Head Coach Brad Keller will look to put an end to Thursday.

“They’re very physical as a team,” Keller said. “When you’re that physical, you take up a lot of space, so we’re gonna have to be very good with our touches and shot selection and what we’re doing in coverage.”

USC will not have much time to recuperate after taking on the Badgers, as it will battle Oregon just a few days later. The Ducks are coming off a dominant win against Minnesota (16-8, 9-5) in straight sets, totaling 14.5 team blocks.

On offense, the Ducks are led by junior outside hitter Mimi Colyer, who has recorded 310 kills and averages 3.92 kills per set. On the defensive side of the court, senior libero Mackenzie Morris leads the Ducks with 245 digs — 3.02 per set.

The Trojans will look to avenge their earlier loss to Oregon, where they were thoroughly beaten by the Ducks. Keller’s squad was only competitive in one of the three sets and was held to just a .138 hitting percentage over the course of the game.

“We’ve cleaned a lot of things up. I think that definitely wasn’t our best match,” Batenhorst said. “[Oregon] won the long plays in that game, and we’ve learned to kind of grind through those long plays and win those over.”

USC is hopeful they can improve on the result because as the team has adjusted to the Big Ten conference, so has their quality of play. The Trojans even improved throughout the course of the game with the Ducks. USC committed a multitude of hitting errors in set one — finishing with a .047 hitting percentage — before steadily improving its accuracy on big swings in the following two sets.

“[The Ducks] beat us [with] their speed of offense,” Trubint said. “For us, it’s gonna be a lot of focus on getting set fast, getting back to our base quick, making sure our block is moving quick along the net so we can beat their speed of offense.”

USC hopes to kickstart a win streak as it hosts Wisconsin on Thursday at 8 p.m. and Oregon on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Galen Center.