The UCLA women’s volleyball team is set to begin its 2025 season with two road matches against Long Beach State and Pepperdine. The Bruins will play at Long Beach State on September 1 at Walter Pyramid, followed by a match at Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse on September 2. Both matches are scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+.
UCLA enters the new season after finishing with a 14-15 overall record and an 8-12 mark in Big Ten Conference play during its first year as a conference member. The Bruins tied for tenth place in the league standings alongside Michigan and Indiana. In five-set matches, UCLA posted a 1-5 record, with losses to several ranked teams including Minnesota, USC, Penn State, and Purdue.
This season, head coach Alfee Reft begins his third year leading the program. The team welcomes ten newcomers—five transfers and five freshmen—to the roster. Among the new additions are transfers Maggie Li from California, Phekran Kong from Louisville, Zayna Meyer from Long Beach State, Marianna Singletary from Texas, and Lola Schumacher from Wisconsin.
Nick Vogel has joined Reft’s coaching staff this summer after serving three seasons as head assistant for UCLA men’s volleyball.
Junior outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette received Honorable Mention AVCA All-American recognition last season. She led the Bruins in points (464), kills (435), points per set (4.43), and kills per set (4.14). Leverette achieved double-digit kills in 20 consecutive matches between August 30 and November 2—a feat accomplished by only four other Bruins since rally scoring began in 2008. She ranked sixth in the conference for kills per set and tenth for total kills.
Graduate middle blocker Anna Dodson was named Second Team All-Big Ten last year—her fourth career all-conference honor—and led UCLA with 105 blocks and 18 solo blocks.
Audrey Pak finished fifth among Big Ten players with an average of 10.67 assists per set during conference play.
Kiki Horne and Kate Reilly were the only Bruins to appear in every match during the previous season.
Historically, UCLA holds a strong advantage over both upcoming opponents. Against Long Beach State, UCLA leads the all-time series 65-19 and has won eleven straight meetings; their most recent matchup came in September 2023 when UCLA secured a four-set win at Walter Pyramid that included nineteen total team blocks—the third-highest single-match total for the program over seven seasons. Versus Pepperdine, UCLA has won nine of their last ten encounters and leads the series overall at 53-12; they last faced off in Honolulu during the Outrigger Volleyball Challenge where UCLA prevailed in five sets.
UCLA has experienced mixed results in recent season openers with a record of seven wins and three losses over its past ten debuts; three of those defeats have come within five years. Last year’s opener saw them defeat No.14 Georgia Tech on the road before falling to LSU early in their schedule two years ago.
Long Beach State is entering its second full season under head coach Natalie Reagan after she was officially appointed following her interim tenure ending November 2024; her first campaign resulted in a fourth-place finish within the Big West Conference at 19-11 overall (12-6 Big West). The team’s most recent postseason run ended with a semifinal loss to Cal Poly.
Pepperdine finished last year with a record of seventeen wins against eleven losses while tying San Diego for second place in WCC play but missed out on an NCAA Tournament spot despite ranking No.53 nationally according to RPI under head coach Scott Wong’s leadership. This season they look to replace graduated standouts Grace Chillingworth and Birdie Hendrickson but return sophomore middle blocker Ella Piskorz who earned First Team All-WCC honors as well as selection to the All-WCC Freshman Team—a first for any Wave since 2016.
In preseason polling ahead of this year’s campaign, coaches picked UCLA fifth out of eighteen teams competing within Big Ten women’s volleyball; Nebraska was selected as favorite followed by Penn State, Wisconsin, then Minnesota atop predicted standings after posting thirty-three wins last regular season (19-1 conference). Four Bruins—Cheridyn Leverette, Maggie Li, Marianna Singletary, Phekran Kong—were named to this year’s twenty-member Preseason All-Big Ten Team.
