The UCLA women’s volleyball team, ranked No. 19, will travel to Fort Worth, Texas for two matches against No. 24 TCU on September 5 and 6 at Schollmaier Arena. The first match is scheduled for Friday at 4 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on ESPNU. The second match takes place Saturday at 4:30 p.m. PT and will be available on ESPN+.
UCLA enters the weekend with a 1-1 record after splitting its opening two matches of the season. The Bruins won their opener in five sets against Long Beach State, marking their first five-set win since the start of the previous season. They then lost to Pepperdine in four sets, recording a .172 hitting percentage as a team.
Cheridyn Leverette leads UCLA in scoring with averages of 4.17 points per set and 3.78 kills per set. Last season, UCLA lost to TCU in four sets during their only meeting, also held in Fort Worth.
In its inaugural Big Ten season last year, UCLA finished with a record of 14-15 overall and tied for tenth place in the conference standings with an 8-12 mark alongside Michigan and Indiana. The team went 1-5 in five-set matches during that campaign.
For the current season, UCLA has added ten newcomers to its roster—five transfers and five freshmen—and is led by head coach Alfee Reft, now in his third year. Nick Vogel joined as an assistant coach this summer after previously working with the men’s volleyball program at UCLA.
Junior outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette was recognized as an Honorable Mention AVCA All-American following her performance last year when she led the team in several statistical categories including total points (464), kills (435), points per set (4.43), and kills per set (4.14). She recorded double-digit kills in twenty consecutive matches between August and November—a feat achieved by only four other Bruins since 2008.
Leverette ranked sixth among Big Ten players in kills per set last season and tenth overall for total kills. New transfers joining the squad include Maggie Li from Cal, Phekran Kong from Louisville, Zayna Meyer from Long Beach State, Marianna Singletary from Texas, and Lola Schumacher from Wisconsin.
Graduate middle blocker Anna Dodson earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors for her fourth career all-conference recognition while Audrey Pak finished fifth in assists per set during conference play with an average of 10.67.
Kiki Horne and Kate Reilly were the only players to appear in every match last season for UCLA.
Reflecting on recent history between these teams, their sole prior meeting resulted in a TCU victory last September inside Schollmaier Arena.
UCLA’s opening week included a five-set win over Long Beach State featuring strong debuts by new additions Maggie Li, Marianna Singletary, and Zayna Meyer who contributed significantly both offensively and defensively. However, they were unable to continue that momentum against Pepperdine despite notable performances from Leverette (16 kills), Meyer (29 assists), and freshman Eliana Urzua (14 kills).
With this result, UCLA holds an eight-win record across its last eleven season openers—including back-to-back five-set victories over Georgia Tech (2024) and Long Beach State (2025). In previous years’ openers: they fell to LSU but rebounded immediately; lost to Utah State; but defeated UC Davis early in those respective seasons.
TCU began its own campaign by defeating reigning national champion Penn State in five sets—the second-highest ranked win ever for their program—after falling to No. 3 Pitt earlier that weekend during the State Farm Volleyball Showcase event over Labor Day Weekend. Last year TCU finished with a record of 22-8 following an NCAA Tournament appearance; this marks their first preseason ranking at No. 24 according to the AVCA poll. Senior outside hitter Jalyn Gibson was named Preseason All-Big 12 but left Monday’s game versus Penn State due to injury.
In preseason polling within the Big Ten Conference for this year’s campaign, UCLA was picked fifth out of eighteen teams after finishing mid-table last year with wins over ranked programs such as Georgia Tech, Washington, and Ohio State while taking several top opponents—including Penn State—to five sets before falling short.
Four Bruins received selection on the Big Ten Volleyball Preseason All-Conference Team: outside hitters Cheridyn Leverette and Maggie Li along with middle blockers Marianna Singletary and Phekran Kong—tying Nebraska for most selections among member schools.
