The Illinois volleyball team has a challenging weekend ahead. Not only does the team begin its Big Ten season away from Huff Hall, but also it’s facing two nationally ranked teams.

On Friday, the Illini will head to University Park, Penn. to take on No. 4 Penn State (9-2). Then the team will travel to Columbus, Ohio to face No. 16 Ohio State (7-2).

Last year, Penn State had the sixth highest average attendance in the nation en route to a Big Ten Conference Championship, and are the favorite to repeat as conference champions. Although Penn State’s Rec Hall will pack a crowd, early season games at Huff Hall might prepare the young girls for what is ahead of them.

“We play there every year and we’re used to crowds, so I don’t think that has a huge impact on the game,” said head coach Don Hardin. “We have some younger players so it might be new for them, but I think it’s fun to play in front of those big crowds.”

Illinois has not had the greatest luck on the road against Penn State. The Illini have won only one match in the last 15 in “Happy Valley” with the latest victory coming in November of 1995.

With one of the toughest schedules in the nation, the Nittany Lions have a record of 9-2, with loses coming from Nebraska, the top-ranked team in the nation, and No. 3 Stanford. So far this season, Penn State has top ten wins against then-No. 7 USC and then-No. 4 Hawaii.

Ohio State will also be a tough team to beat. Although the team is 7-2, the Buckeyes’ only loses came at the hands of No. 1 Nebraska and to Brigham Young in a five-game match. Among its seven victories is a win against No. 24 Long Beach State.

To make matters worse this weekend, Illinois is battling the injury bug. Senior outside hitter Rasa Virsilaite broke her right pinky finger in a game against Rice last weekend and will be sidelined for several weeks.

Freshman middle blocker Rachel Henderson has mononucleosis and will not play this weekend. Red-shirt sophomore middle blocker Jen Hynds has not seen playing time this season and is out with an undisclosed injury.

“If you wiped out fifty percent of every team in the Big Ten, then we’d be on a level playing field,” Hardin said. “The injuries are huge, but you still have to compete and field a team.”

Despite the injuries, players are looking forward to the difficult stretch in the schedule.

“It’s going to be really tough,” said junior middle blocker Meghan Macdonald. “It’s going to be challenging but we’ve been talking about the Big Ten opener since last spring. During this whole week, we’ve been practicing really hard.”

After winning its first seven games, Illinois is also coming off its second loss of the season to Rice in the championship game of the Illini Classic last week.

“I think we’ll definitely bounce back,” Macdonald said. “It was a hard loss because we weren’t playing very well and we were missing some key players, but I think everyone is ready for the challenge this weekend.”

Tessa Pelias The Daily Illini

Middle blocker Megan Macdonald hits the ball over the net at the 22nd Annual State Farm Illini Classic against Eastern Illinois on Sept. 16 at Huff Hall. Illinois won 3-2.