One step forward, one step back.
A two-game road trip offered both a breakthrough and a setback.
UCLA Women’s Volleyball (16-9, 7-7) faced Illinois (17-8, 9-5) on Thursday at Huff Hall in Champaign before traveling to West Lafayette to take on No. 14 Purdue (16-7, 9-5) on Saturday at Holloway Gymnasium. The Westwood squad snapped a four-match losing streak with a four-set victory over the Fighting Illini before falling to the Boilermakers by the same margin two days later.
With the string of losses hanging over the team, Thursday’s matchup offered an opportunity to regain momentum against an Illinois squad that sits in the top half of the conference.
UCLA struggled to find their rhythm against Illinois to open the match. The Fighting Illini made use of openings between the blockers and backline, hitting .313 in the opening set while the blue and gold managed just a .069 hitting percentage.
Illinois took the first set 25-17, putting the Westwood squad in an early hole.
The second set, however, brought a complete turnaround.
Rather than allowing Illinois to dictate the pace, the Bruins became more aggressive at the net and more efficient offensively. In the second set, UCLA recorded 13 kills with only two attacking errors, raising its hitting percentage to .500 and taking the set 25-15.
Sophomore middle blocker Jordyn Johnson played a major role in the turnaround. The St. Paul, Minnesota, local recorded a career-high-matching nine blocks, helping close the spaces Illinois had targeted in the opening set.
Fifth-year middle blocker Marianna Singletary – dubbed “a brick wall” by the game’s announcers – contributed to the defensive effort, helping the team disrupt Illinois’ attacking rhythm. Singletary finished the match with nine kills and five blocks.
“We talk a lot in positionals for middles,” Singletary said. “It’s staying calm, trusting our eyes, getting good reads, and when (Jordyn) Johnson does that, she’s super hard to stop and hard to get by as an attacker. She did a great job in that area.”
The adjustment extended beyond the blocking numbers as Illinois’ hitting percentage dropped to .269 in the second while UCLA cut its attacking errors from six to two. By limiting mistakes and making Illinois work harder for points, the team began turning defensive stops into offensive opportunities and took control of the set.
The Bruins’ three-player blocking formation continued to be one of their most effective defensive strategies. By closing off attacking lanes and limiting the Fighting Illini’s options at the net, the team recorded 16.5 blocks, more than double Illinois’ seven.
The Westwood squad carried that efficiency into the third set, winning 25-21, but Illinois continued to challenge them in the fourth.
Trailing 22-18, the team needed a late push to avoid letting the match slip away. Sophomore middle blocker Hazel Alevok delivered the final solo block to seal the 26-24 set victory and end a four-match losing streak.
Sophomore right side hitter Mija Bendziute contributed with 12 kills and four blocks, hitting at a .333 clip, a major improvement from hitting 0.040 in the previous match. The Boca Raton, Florida, local’s attacking confidence and ability to find openings helped fuel the team’s comeback.
The defensive momentum carried into Saturday’s matchup against Purdue, but the Bruins faced a different challenge on the road as the Boilermakers celebrated their Senior Night.
The Bruins opened with a 25-22 first-set victory, hitting .419 with just one attack error. UCLA also recorded six blocks, establishing an early advantage at the net and disrupting Purdue’s offense.
But Purdue adjusted by varying its attacks. Instead of consistently challenging the block with powerful swings, the Boilermakers mixed in tips and dunks into open areas of the court.
The change forced UCLA to cover more ground behind the net and react to a wider range of attacks. Senior libero Kat Lutz was forced to dive left and right in an attempt to cover more of the court, but it wasn’t enough.
Although the team continued to produce blocks, it struggled to consistently defend the spaces beyond them. Purdue took advantage of that to win the next three sets, including a 25-16 third-set victory, and close out the match 3-1.
“I think in difficult moments, it’s still the belief that even though sometimes we’re down, we’re not leading the score, the score doesn’t matter,” senior outside hitter Maggie Li said. “It’s all about the energy that we’re at and a sense of urgency that we have. And as long as we keep building ourselves and knowing that we are capable of catching up to keep building, that’s all that matters.”
Li took a larger defensive workload against the Boilermakers. She finished with 14 digs, nine kills and four block assists, surpassing her dig total from Thursday’s matchup against Illinois.
The increased defensive responsibility reflected Purdue’s ability to keep the ball in play and attack areas that were not always covered by the front line. Sophomore outside hitter Eliana Urzua led the offense with 17 kills, but the Westwood squad struggled to turn those offensive contributions into enough momentum to overcome Purdue’s adjustments.
“Eliana is such a good, just stable force for us,” coach Matt Werle said. “She played on the outside a lot last year, dabbled on the right, but what she’s done on the right just as a blocker and just slowing balls down, slowing attackers down, and then also she moves the ball around offensively really well.”
UCLA recorded 14.5 team blocks against Purdue, with Singletary and Johnson contributing seven apiece. However, Purdue finished with 69 kills and a .273 hitting percentage, compared with UCLA’s 49 kills and .208 hitting percentage.
Now, the team returns to Westwood with little opportunity to dwell on either result. With the regular season winding down, the Bruins will have to turn the lessons of the road trip into adjustments on their home court.
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