Just four days after No. 21 Indiana volleyball’s season-opening loss to then-No. 7 University of Louisville, the Hoosiers are slated to take on two more opponents from one of the nation’s top conferences during the inaugural Big Ten/Southeastern Conference Volleyball Challenge Week.
During the offseason, the two leagues announced the competition. The challenge will feature 30 matchups played from Tuesday to Sunday across the nation with the final two — No. 1 Nebraska vs. University of Missouri and No. 13 Penn State vs. No. 3 University of Kentucky — taking place at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
But before the competition-ending matches in Illinois, the Hoosiers have their own pair of contests against high-powered teams.
Indiana is slated to take on the University of Georgia at 6 p.m. Tuesday and No. 12 Texas A&M University — the reigning national champions — at 5 p.m. Wednesday in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The Hoosiers were swept by Louisville in their season opener on Friday night in Louisville, Kentucky. Indiana was within five points of Louisville in the first set, but the Cardinals were aggressive as the night went on. After being tied at six points in the second set, Louisville won 25-12, and the Hoosiers weren’t competitive in the third set, which they lost 25-11. With the loss, Indiana moved from No. 16 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association rankings to No. 21.
While sophomore outside hitter Jaidyn Jager and junior opposite hitter Ella Boersema led Indiana with seven kills each, the Hoosiers still had a team hitting rate of .043.
Ninth year Indiana head coach Steve Aird said postgame he thinks Louisville came out so relentless because of its loss to then-No. 6 Wisconsin on Aug. 22. The Badgers swept the Cardinals in Milwaukee.
Now, Indiana has an opportunity to do what Louisville did to them. After a blowout in their opening match, the Big Ten/SEC Challenge provides the Hoosiers with a chance for a get-right contest before the rest of their nonconference schedule.
Meet the opponents
Indiana’s first opponent is Georgia, which is 3-0 this season with wins over the University North Florida, Georgia Washington University and Furman University in the Classic City Clash over the weekend.
In two of the matches, graduate student outside hitter Bianna Muoneke led the Bulldogs in kills, recording 15 against Furman and 11 versus George Washington. Muoneke transferred to Georgia in 2024 after one season with Texas A&M. Last season, she led the Bulldogs with 374 kills en route to being named All-SEC First Team and AVCA All-American Honorable Mention.
Against North Florida, freshman outside hitter Gigi Artiles led Georgia with 10 kills with a .444 hitting percentage in her collegiate debut. Artiles earned 2025 Florida Gatorade Player of the Year honors and was rated the No. 23 recruit by PrepVolleyball.com in 2025.
In 2025, Georgia went 16-10 overall and 8-7 in conference matches, while failing to make the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year.
After Indiana takes on Georgia, it’ll compete against the reigning national champions in Texas A&M.
The Aggies are 3-2 this season after losing to then-No. 7 Louisville and then-No. 11 Southern Methodist University in their opening two matches. They won their three most recent matches against Grand Canyon University, Arkansas State University and California Polytechnic State University, which the Hoosiers are scheduled to play in their home opener Sept. 10.
Fifth-year outside hitter Natalie Ring leads the Aggies scoring efforts with 4.35 points per set and 3.77 kills per set through five matches. Ring spent her first four seasons of college volleyball with Marquette University, where she was named to the AVCA Third Team All-American and All-Big East Conference Team.
Last season, Texas A&M knocked then-undefeated Nebraska out of the NCAA Tournament in the regional semifinals before recordings wins over No. 4-seeded University of Pittsburgh and No. 2-seeded Kentucky for its first national championship in program history. The Aggies were 29-4 overall with a 14-1 conference record last season.
Tuesday’s contest between Indiana and Georgia will be broadcast on FS1, while Wednesday’s match will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki87731 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana volleyball season.
