No. 17 women’s volleyball officially kicked off its Big Ten schedule last weekend with a grueling five-set loss to No. 16 Penn State and a smooth sweep over Ohio State. Now, the Trojans will return to Galen Center for a set of weekend matches against Indiana and No. 13 Purdue.

USC (10-2, 1-1 Big Ten) heads into its first match on Friday with a 3-1 all-time record against the Hoosiers (11-1, 2-0). Last year, the Trojans won out in four sets, highlighted by a career-high 18-dig game from then-graduate outside hitter Ally Batenhorst. This season, USC is the first ranked team on Indiana’s schedule.

Head Coach Brad Keller said the Hoosiers play a rapid brand of offense, which is something that USC needs to be ready for.

“Indiana is one of the fastest teams in the country,” Keller said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “If you’re not dialed in and you’re not training for it, you can get caught off guard.”

USC’s final match of the week is against the Purdue Boilermakers (10-2, 1-1) on Saturday. The Trojans are 6-1 all-time against Purdue, with the Boilermakers taking last year’s contest in a sweep. Purdue had more kills, a higher hitting percentage and fewer errors.

Keller said the Boilermakers run a “balanced” game of volleyball, thanks to Head Coach Dave Shondell’s defensive-mindedness. He also said junior outside hitter Kenna Wollard, who has the second most kills in the Big Ten, is someone who he hopes has a bad game against the Trojans. 

“[Shondell] is an entrepreneur and a big bright spot in our community as far as dig [transition] and block defense,” Keller said. “There’s a lot of wisdom that comes from him in that department.” 

The story of USC’s season so far boils down to one important idea: aggression. This approach has resulted in the team leading the Big Ten in blocks; five Trojans have at least 30 blocks, with redshirt sophomore middle blocker Leah Ford leading the charge at 47. 

That aggression has come back to bite USC in its serving, though: five Trojans have at least 20 service errors, while no other Big Ten team has more than three players with that many. But that doesn’t worry Keller.

“If you don’t have service errors, it means you’re not putting enough pressure on the team. You’re pulling back on the reins,” Keller said. “When you serve to score a point, you’re going to have errors. It’s just going to happen. We cannot serve the ball in and allow their offenses to get grooves or rhythm.”

USC will play Indiana on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Purdue on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Both games will be at Galen Center.