Over the weekend, the UCLA Women’s Volleyball team defeated the Long Beach State 49ers in 4 sets, 25-20, 18-25, 25-16, 25-15. Freshman Jenny Mosser picked up the first double-double of her UCLA career with 13 kills and 11 digs. That, combined with her performance against LMU earlier in the week, earned Mosser the UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week award.

Reily Buechler matched Mosser in kills and digs to also pick up a double-double while Kyra Rogers led all players with 14 kills. Mac May also had 13 kills for the Bruins while Savvy Simo led the team in digs with 16. Sarah Sponcil picked up 45 assists in the match.

After the teams split the first six points of the first set, UCLA went on an 8-2 run to take an 11-5 lead. Long Beach State rallied with a 3-0 run of their own to cut the lead in half. After the teams split the next six points, the Bruins went on a 5-2 run to make it 19-13. The 49ers took the next point to cut the UCLA lead to five, 19-14. While Long Beach State would cut the lead to four twice, the teams split the next twelve points, giving the Bruins a 25-20 win.

In the second set, the teams split the first ten points before the 49ers went on a 6-2 run to take an 11-7 lead. They then split the next eight points and Long Beach State led 15-11. The 49ers went on a 3-0 mini-run before the Bruins did the same to make it 18-14. After the teams split the next eight points, Long Beach State closed out the set with 3 straight points to take the set 25-18.

After the break, UCLA came out strong with a 7-2 run to start Set 3. The teams went back and forth and split the next twenty-two points, giving UCLA an 18-13 advantage. Kjersti Norveel’s kill cut the Bruin lead to 18-14, but UCLA finished the set just like they opened it with a 7-2 run and a 25-16 win.

And, the Bruins picked right back up again in Set 4. Not only did they score the first eight points, but they also managed to score twelve of the first thirteen. After the teasm split the next four points UCLA had a 14-3 lead and the service error that gave the Bruins 14 points was also the start of another run by UCLA. This time, it was a 6-1 run. Long Beach State finally managed to put together a run of their own in the set and their 9-2 run made it 21-13, Bruins. But four of the final six points of the match went to the Bruins for the set and the match victory.

UCLA’s two wins for the week enabled them to move up from #13 to #11 in the latest AVCA Top 25 Poll.

Tonight, the Bruins open Pac-12 Conference play when they host the #21 Southern Cal Trojans at Pauley Pavilion. The Trojans have won four of their last five and are lead by sophomore Khalia Lanier who is averaging 4.28 kills per set. Senior Reni Meyer-Whalley and sophomore Cindy Marina will be looking to set up Lanier and the rest of the Trojans while junior Victoria Garrick leads the team in digs with 3.95 dps.

The last time these teams met was on November 26, 2016 in the final game of the regular season and the Bruins came back after being down 2 sets to 1 and won a hard-fought match in five sets at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins have a three-match winning streak against the Trojans going into tonight’s game.

This is your UCLA vs. Southern Cal women’s volleyball open thread.

Go Bruins!!! Beat SC!