The Bruins’ most recent road trip landed the team its first loss of the season and knocked them from the top 25.

Now, they’re back on the prowl.

UCLA women’s volleyball (3-1) is heading to Fight in the Fort in Fort Worth, Texas, where it will face Prairie View A&M (1-6) and Texas A&M – Commerce (2-4) on Thursday before squaring off against No. 25 TCU (2-2) on Friday.

After UCLA’s upset to then-No. 14 Georgia Tech to kickstart the 2024 campaign, it floundered against then-No. 17 Tennessee on Thursday, getting swept by the Lady Volunteers.

“None of us felt good about our performance against Tennessee,” said coach Alfee Reft. “These are things we have to address and things we can get better at as the season goes along.”

Specifically, Reft said the Bruins’ shortcoming was in service receptions. Against the Lady Volunteers, the Bruins recorded five reception errors. But in UCLA’s following match against Long Island, it recorded just a single reception error after some dedicated, disciplined training.

“We had a good practice and really dialed in on what we need to fix and get better,” said senior libero Peyton Dueck. “We just regrouped and got back to how the Bruins play.”

Despite recording 24 fewer attacks, the Bruins recorded six more kills against the Sharks than against the Lady Volunteers. Between the loss to Tennessee and the sweep of Long Island, UCLA raised its hitting percentage by .152.

The series in Fort Worth will be the Bruins’ third straight series away from Westwood, after trips to Atlanta and Knoxville. UCLA won’t play its first match in Pauley Pavilion until its home opener against Ohio State on Sept. 29.

One of UCLA’s Fight in the Fort opponents is top-25 ranked TCU. A year ago, the Horned Frogs went 17-15 with a second-round NCAA tournament appearance. While Prairie View A&M and Texas A&M-Commerce have a combined record of 3-10 this year, TCU’s only losses are to Nebraska and Wisconsin – both top-10 teams.

The Horned Frogs are headlined by outside hitter Melanie Parra – the 2024 Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year. In her third-team All-American campaign last season, Parra set a TCU program record with 569 points in a single season and accumulated 482 kills.

However, the Bruins aren’t discouraged from tough matches – or even tough outcomes.

“When we have losses, we take that as an opportunity to upgrade and look into what we need to do better,” said graduate student middle blocker Anna Dodson. “We like to be tested. We like to figure out what is missing in our system.”