It’s curtains up for the Bruins as a weekend of back-to-back matches dawns on Honolulu.

For the first time in five years, UCLA will jockey against Hawai’i.

But just two days before that, the Bruins see an opportunity for revenge as they encounter the only team to bear fruit against them this season.

Heading out of state for the first time in more than a month, No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball (17-1, 4-0 MPSF) will embark on a trip to Hawaii to take on No. 3 Penn State (15-1, 4-0 EIVA) on Thursday, Purdue Fort Wayne (12-5, 3-4 MIVA) on Friday and No. 1 Hawai’i (15-0) on Saturday for the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational.

The Bruins’ last time out of California was in Pennsylvania’s Happy Valley, where they fell to the Nittany Lions in their first and only loss of their 2023 campaign.

As Penn State’s outside hitter Cal Fisher outnumbered all hitters with 15 kills and three aces – the latter being equivalent to all of the Bruins’ combined – UCLA’s defense had no answer to its opponent’s offensive attack in the two’s last matchup.

“The focus is controlling the serve and pass game,” said redshirt senior libero Troy Gooch. “We played Penn State, and we didn’t serve and pass as much as we liked to, so we got to be really dialed in on serving and passing, and once again, resilient on defense, and (we) continue to have this mindset.”

Gooch lands in the Aloha State after being named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation/Molten Defensive Player of the Week on Monday afternoon.

The libero outdug all players in the Bruins’ most recent matchup against Concordia University Irvine, where his 13 digs set him a new season high and headlined a defensive effort from the Bruins that ultimately gave the Eagles the wooden spoon.

This faceoff was the second of UCLA’s doubleheader against Concordia. As the series culminated, Gooch had an average of 3.7 digs and steered all 21 Bruin serve receptions with no errors. The matchup extended Gooch’s streak of 80 straight serve receptions without error.

“He’s really added defense and communicates very, very well on passing,” said coach John Speraw. “He has done a tremendous job in continuing to improve his command of responsibilities and systems on the volleyball court.”

UCLA’s 2.583 blocks per set position it fourth in the nation, a testament to its impressive block that works in restricting its opponent’s hitting percentage as much as possible, according to Gooch.

Just last week, UCLA tallied 11.5 blocks in the first game of its Concordia doubleheader, simultaneously limiting its opponent to a .039 hit percentage.

“We got them out of system a lot, and that gets them off the net,” Gooch said. “We set up an amazing block and were able to play around that and get a lot of digs.”

With a 22-20 all-time record against Hawai’i, UCLA enters its first matchup against the nation’s frontrunner in five years. The last time the squads competed, each took a piece of their doubleheader.

Junior outside hitter Ethan Champlin said the Bruins will approach the anticipated matchup between the top two teams in the country with one factor in mind: focus.

“The focus is focus. It’s a lot of mental, not as much physical,” Champlin said. “We have the weekend off so we need to stay engaged, get ready for two big battles.”

A long-awaited weekend in Hawaii creeps up on the Bruins as they prepare to take on Penn State at 6 p.m. on Thursday.