Inside Pauley Pavilion, the fourth set was slipping away. Penn State had built a late lead, and UCLA needed a moment to turn the night around. Head coach Matt Werle challenged a touch call. The ruling changed, and the Bruins had set point.
It was a small pause in a loud, fast match, but it opened a door. UCLA fought through the set, then dug out of an early hole in the fifth. This team, it seemed, was not looking for an easy night. It was learning how to stay together when the match got difficult.
Result: UCLA defeated No. 15 Penn State, 3-2, for its first ranked win of the season; the Bruins improved to 14-4 overall and 5-2 in Big Ten play.
Set scores: 25-20, 15-25, 17-25, 26-24, 15-12.
Meet the Bruins
This is Matt Werle’s first season leading UCLA, and the group has already had to find its footing in the Big Ten. The Bruins opened with strong results, hit a difficult stretch, and answered with the kind of work that rarely fits into a tidy season summary: regrouping, making adjustments, and trusting one another through the next point.
The Penn State comeback belongs to a broader pattern. UCLA has already come through five-set tests against Hawai‘i and Maryland, and the Bruins have learned that a match can change quickly. The fifth set is its own kind of pressure: every serve brings the next decision, every rally asks the whole court to respond.
That is what made the Penn State win more than a headline result. UCLA trailed in the match and had to earn its way back, one rally at a time. In the fourth, the Bruins stayed close enough to make their push count. In the fifth, they found their footing again and finished together.
The work that doesn’t always make the highlight
The loudest moment may come at the net. But the work that keeps a rally alive often happens behind it.
UCLA finished with 79 team digs. That is a lot of floor covered, a lot of balls kept in play, and a lot of chances created for someone else to finish. Nobody claps for the libero every time she gets into position. The team still depends on her being there.
Kat Lutz delivered a career-high 28 digs and four aces. Vivian Hickman added 14 digs and three aces, while Kate Duffey set the offense with 48 assists. Maggie Li led the Bruins with 17 kills, and Marianna Singletary contributed a team-high four blocks, including the block that helped bring match point within reach.
Those numbers tell part of the story. The rest is the communication between points, the cover behind a hitter, the teammate ready to make the next touch. A comeback is never one person’s work. It is the full group choosing to keep the ball, and each other, in play.
Pauley, and the next chapter
The Bruins were set to welcome Ohio State to Pauley Pavilion on Sunday, Oct. 18. Ahead are road trips to Nebraska and Iowa, followed by another stretch of home matches, including Minnesota, Wisconsin and USC in November.
For UCLA, Pauley is more than the setting for a schedule. It is where this new season is being shaped in front of its community: through the difficult stretches, the long rallies and the moments when a teammate’s effort gives the next player a chance.
Friday’s win offered a first look at this team’s character. The statement was not only that the Bruins could beat a ranked opponent. It was that, when the match turned against them, they stayed connected, and found a way forward together.
References
- UCLA Athletics: “UCLA Takes Down No. 15 Penn State in Five Sets, 3-2”
- UCLA Athletics: 2026 women’s volleyball schedule and box scores
- Daily Bruin: “UCLA women’s volleyball earns first ranked win 3-2 against Penn State”
- Penn State Athletics: “UCLA Rallies Past No. 15 Women’s Volleyball”
Special thanks to photographer cesarbarillas (@cesarbarillas).
