No. 25 women’s volleyball is officially knee deep in conference play. Six games into their Big Ten schedule, USC sits 14th in the conference. 

Last weekend was a mixed bag: USC swept Oregon, breaking a two-game win streak for the Ducks, but was then swept by an unranked UCLA squad on national television. The Trojans (11-5, 2-4 Big Ten) will now head to the Midwest for games against Iowa (10-8, 1-5 Big Ten) on Friday and No. 9 Wisconsin (12-2, 5-1 Big Ten) on Sunday. 

Last year’s game against Iowa was momentous in concept — senior night and the last game of USC’s regular season — but succinct in practice, as the team swept Iowa in their first-ever matchup.

This season, the Hawkeyes have the most kills and points in the Big Ten, which is partly explained by the fact that they’re tied with Northwestern for the most sets and games played in the conference. Even though last year’s matchup was a clean win for the Trojans, bouncing back from the UCLA loss and maintaining motivation is integral to Head Coach Brad Keller’s preparation.

“When we played against UCLA, there was four or five plays [where] we didn’t make really great touches, and it cost us,” Keller said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “[Iowa] is very physical. They have really good arms, and so we’re going to have to defend in a certain way against them, but we’re going to do that within working on ourselves as well.”

Although the match against Iowa will be a good litmus test for USC’s ability to keep its head above the Big Ten waters, Wisconsin will be a much tougher challenge. Along with perennial powerhouse No. 1 Nebraska (16-0, 6-0 Big Ten), the Badgers are the only Big Ten team ranked inside the American Volleyball Coaches Association top 10, and they have the stats to back it up. Currently, they lead the Big Ten in kills, assists, digs and points per set.

That across-the-board dominance was present in USC’s match against the Badgers last year, which was arguably women’s volleyball’s worst showing of the season. Wisconsin swept the Trojans and held them to multiple season lows, like a meager two total blocks, 33 total points and a hitting percentage of 0.079; no other team held USC under 0.100.

USC is 3-6 all-time against Wisconsin, and Keller remembers last year’s match distinctly. Even though he’s aware his Trojan squad is the underdog against Wisconsin, he said the most important thing for the team is taking it one step at a time in what he calls a “two-point conference.”

“You have to be so good that it just comes down to two plays or two situations. And that’s why the Big Ten is as tough as it is. It’s why the Big Ten is as extreme as it is,” Keller said. We just got to continue to work on us and our style of play. Bust it a little bit. Dig a couple more volleyballs, take a couple swings that are not extreme, and we’re going to be in good shape.”

USC will play Iowa on Friday at 6 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. They’ll then move on to Wisconsin on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Wisconsin Field House.