PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The UCLA women’s volleyball team beat Rutgers in a four-set fashion, 3-1 at Jersey Mike’s Arena. The Bruins took sets one, two, and four, to complete their road back-to-back 2-0 on Saturday, October 10.

Set scores were 25-15, 25-12, 29-31, and 25-22.

The Bruins (13-4, 4-2 Big Ten) recorded a .341 attack percentage for the match – their fourth best attack percentage in a match this season, and their second best against a conference opponent. UCLA had a .371 attack percentage earlier this season against Northwestern.

Jordyn Johnson recorded a season-high seven blocks in the match. It marked Johnson’s first start of the season, along with senior libero Kat Lutz. Mija Bendziute also recorded a season-high six blocks of her own, all solo blocks. Bendziute had a team-high 19 total points in the contest on a season-high four service aces, while Maggie Li, with a team-high 16 kills, had 18 total points of her own.

UCLA kept even with Rutgers (10-8, 1-5 Big Ten) at the start of the first set, with a score of 6-6 in the opening frame after kills from Li and Hazel Avelok. Bendziute tacked on an ace a few points later to put the Bruins up 10-9, and along with a kill from Johnson, UCLA had its first three-point lead in the set at 14-11. After a point for Rutgers, the Bruins went on a 5-0 run with kills from Johnson and Bendziute, part of a larger 13-4 to end the first set. UCLA won the opening frame 25-15.

The Bruins went on an early 4-0 run in the second set off four straight Scarlet Knight attack errors, putting UCLA up in the set 6-2. Johnson recorded three blocks in the four-point span. Another 4-0 run later, with kills from Marianna Singletary, Eliana Urzua, and Bendziute, the Bruins held a commanding 12-4 set lead. UCLA and Rutgers traded the next few points but the Scarlet Knights couldn’t hold back the Bruin barrage at the end of the set. The Bruins closed set two on a 6-2 run, including an ace from Bendziute and two more kills from Li, to give UCLA a two-set advantage, finishing set two 25-12.

UCLA endured a long third set, enduring multiple set points from Rutgers in the extended set. Being down 21-24, A Bendziute kill, a combined block from Alevok and Singletary, and an attack error by the Scarlet Knights evened the score at 24. Rutgers took the go-ahead to get to 25, but a following attack error evened the score once more. The Scarlet Knights took the lead again 25-26, but on the set point Urzua managed to get the crucial kill to even the score for the third time.

Bendziute then recorded her second ace of the night to give the Bruins an opportunity their first match point, and then trading service errors made the score 28-27, another Bruin match point. Rutgers evened the score again at 28, but after a Li kill for the third UCLA match point attempt, the Scarlet Knights went on a 3-0 run to take the third set, 29-31.

The Bruins got off to a hot start in set four, going on an opening 7-3 run with kills from Singletary, Bendziute, Urzua, and capped off with an ace from Singletary. UCLA traded points with Rutgers, holding their set lead until an 8-2 Scarlet Knight run gave Rutgers their first lead of the set, 18-19. UCLA traded more points with the Scarlet Knights to eventually even the score at 22, but three consecutive kills from Li put the dagger in the Scarlet Knights, giving the Bruins a 25-22 set win and a 3-1 win in the match.

The Bruins return to Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial on Friday, October 16 to face Penn State. First serve is set for 7:00 PM PT, to be televised on B1G+.