UCLA ready to show what they’re about in the Big Ten

The addition of four new competitive programs is one of the attractions of the Big Ten women’s volleyball conference this season and one of them is the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). One of the most respected programs in the country, the Bruins left the Pac-12 with the goal of showing what they’re capable of against elite competition and over the next two months, they will have plenty of opportunities to do it.

“I think this summer we put in a lot of work,” said graduate student middle blocker Anna Dodson. “And at the forefront of our mind has been how we are going to show up this year, who we want to be, what our image is, and what our goals are. I think this conference is going to be a great opportunity for us to showcase that.”

• Watch the Big Ten Conference matches live and on demand on VBTV

A program that developed numerous volleyball and beach volleyball Olympians, such as Karsta Lowe, Holly McPeak, Jenny Johnson Jordan, Elaine Youngs and Sarah Sponcil, UCLA want to get back to the glory days that took them to win four NCAA titles, the last of which in 2011.

The team, which has been coached since 2023 by Alfredo ‘Alfee’ Reft, who was an assistant to Karch Kiraly in the USA women’s national team that took silver at the Paris 2024 Olympics, wants to have success while also playing entertaining and dynamic volleyball.

“We want to be creative, we want to be dynamic,” associate head coach Amir Lugo-Rodriguez reflected. “I think you'll see a very complete product in terms of the game of volleyball. And I think that's what we're really priding ourselves on this year is we're training the game; we're just not training pieces to fit into a puzzle and it's a one-size-fits-all.”

The Bruins had mixed results in their first week as a Big Ten program, losing to Nebraska on the road and beating Ohio State at home to secure their first-ever win in the conference – the Bruins now have seven wins and four losses in their campaign.

“First Big Ten win for UCLA women's volleyball and it was a nice win against a great team,” Reft racted after the match against Ohio State. “I thought our team did a great job putting pressure on them from the end line. I thought our team did really nice job with the scout and adapting to some changes they made in the third set.”

This week, UCLA will have another opportunity to show what they’re about as they host Minnesota on Friday, and Michigan, on Saturday, at 19:00 local time (2:00 GMT). The first match will be streamed live to VBTV subscribers around the world.

“I think we're just really excited to be here, for everything that's going to happen,” graduate student setter Audrey Pak summarized. “And we're just ready to attack it.”

Quick links:
Big Ten Women's Volleyball
VBTV
Volleyball World Facebook
Volleyball World X
Volleyball World Instagram
Volleyball World YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter