The Bruins’ season hasn’t started the way they intended.

But after a sweep of the desert schools, the blue and gold is in position to claw its way back into Pac-12 relevancy.

UCLA women’s volleyball (8-7, 2-4 Pac-12) will face off against Oregon State (6-10, 1-5) and No. 17 Oregon (10-4, 4-2) in a bid to extend its two-game winning streak.

Sophomore outside hitter/opposite Charitie Luper said the Bruins are taking the season one game at a time and focusing on the team’s progression.

“Now we’re looking at Oregon State,” Luper said. “Our focus is on Oregon State and no other teams. There, we’re just going to keep playing as one (and) stay together. Just keep moving forward.”

Oregon State hasn’t had a winning record since 2017 – and 2022 has been no different. Currently on a four-game losing streak with an 0-4 record on the road, the Beavers aren’t riding a hot streak into their match against the Bruins in Westwood.

Oregon State also dropped six sets against Arizona and Arizona State, both of which UCLA defeated over the weekend.

One of the Bruins’ strengths against Arizona and Arizona State proved to be their balanced offensive approach, in which a total of 13 combined for 107 kills throughout the weekend. Graduate student outside hitter/opposite élan McCall is riding a four-game double-double streak, and Luper has gotten double-digit kills in all but one of her games, including most recently a career-high 25 against Arizona.

“You always want some kind of offensive balance,” said coach Michael Sealy. “Overall if the team’s block and defense system allows you to set everybody, that’s something we want to do for sure.”

Despite having a strong kill game, the Bruins have also made more errors than their opponents, hitting 319 errors compared to their opponents’ 301 on the season.

On the other hand, the No. 12-ranked team in the country in Oregon has a flawless home record accompanied by an evenly split away record. Oregon is currently the third-highest-ranked team in the conference behind No. 7 Stanford and No. 15 Washington.

The Ducks are not infallible, however, dropping their last two away games on their Washington road trip – one against unranked Washington State and the other against Washington.

The blue and gold’s recent road trip success has given the team more confidence going into the upcoming weekend, according to graduate student setter Matti McKissock.

“We have a little bit more confidence now going into this next weekend,” McKissock said. “We’re excited to be back at home and give our fans something to look forward to.”

At the beginning of the season, the Bruins were slated as the No. 12 team in the nation, second only to Washington in the Pac-12. However, with early tournament losses to Utah State and Loyola Marymount, UCLA dropped out of the rankings before conference play even began.

Nevertheless, in all but one game, the Bruins out-dug their opponents and had comparatively more assists in 11 of their 15 matches.

“We’re just extremely focused, and we know that we’re capable of a lot more than what we’ve been showing,” McKissock said. “We’re just motivated and excited to keep this winning streak going.”