WACO, Texas -- The No. 13 Baylor women's tennis team (11-4) travels to Indian Wells, Calif., to challenge No. 32 USC (4-5) at the BNP Paribas Open. First serve is set for 9 p.m. (CT) on Friday, March 17.

The BNP Parabas Open is the largest two-week combined ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and WTA Premier professional tennis tournament tin the world, and annually features the top men and women professional players.

The match between the Lady Bears and Trojans is the only women's tennis match of the tournament, putting Baylor on a grand stage against a strong USC team. In their most recent matchup, the Trojans defeated Baylor, 4-0, on March 19, 2016. Baylor leads the all-time series against USC 4-3.

"We're excited about being invited to play in the collegiate series at the BNP," head coach Joey Scrivano said. "We're one of two schools doing it on the women's side and it's a special opportunity to play in that venue in front of a lot of fans and tennis enthusiasts. We've got to get back to playing good, quality Baylor tennis because USC has a great team. It will be a tough match."

The Trojans opened the season with a win over Rice, 4-3, before dropping their match against Auburn, 1-4. They swept San Diego State, 7-0, but suffered consecutive losses to UCLA, 3-4, and California, 1-6. USC recovered with a 5-2 victory over Michigan, but once again dropped back-to-back matches against California, 3-4, and Stanford, 0-4.

The Trojans boast four ranked singles players including No. 25 Gabby Smith, No. 38 Jessica Failla, No. 88 ZoÃÆ' « Katz and No. 113 Madison Westby. They also have four pairs of ranked doubles duos including No. 21 ZoÃÆ' « Katz and Gabby Smith, No. 64 Angela Kulikov and Madison Westby, No. 75 Rianna Valdes and Jessica Failla and No. 78 ZoÃÆ' « Katz and Madison Westby.

After falling to No. 7 Oklahoma State, 4-1, to open Big 12 conference play, the Lady Bears quickly bounced back with a 4-0 sweep of No. 47 Oklahoma. Over a nine-day stretch over Spring Break, the Lady Bears went 4-2.

"Our spring break trip was a great learning experience," Scrivano said. "To play three quality opponents in five days tested our team and our resolve. I felt that our players did a great job of bouncing back and finding a way to win on the last day. Our players learned a lot about how to recover, how to eat and the other things behind the scenes that impact our performance. We came out of that week a better team."

Lady Bears' seniors Blair Shankle and Rhiann Newborn are both ranked nationally at No. 11 and No. 110, respectively. The doubles duo of Shankle and Elizabeth Profit are ranked No. 22.

After the dual match against USC, the Lady Bears return home to face No. 22 Texas A&M in Waco. First serve is set for 5 p.m.

Follow the official Twitter and Instagram accounts of the team (@BaylorWTennis) for an inside look at the program.