This post was updated Oct. 10 at 11:23 p.m.

Westwood bid farewell to the Bruins for about two weeks, but the team quickly found success on the road – breaking the two-game losing streak they started at Pauley Pavilion.

After falling to then-No.12 Minnesota and Michigan on consecutive days, UCLA women’s volleyball (8-6, 2-3 Big Ten) secured a 3-1 victory over No. 24 Washington (13-2, 3-2) on Wednesday night in Seattle to end its dry spell. The triumph was particularly noteworthy for the Bruins, as they overcame the nationally ranked Huskies and handed them just their second loss of the season.

“I think the two losses, first Michigan and Minnesota, definitely turned the tide for us a little bit,” said outside hitter Grayce Olson.

After suffering five losses in their last seven games, the Bruins seemed eager to reenter the win column.

“We were like, we deserve to be up there on the top ranks,” said freshman outside hitter Kiki Horne. “So it was really us being like we got potential, now let’s show it.”

A 27-25 loss in the first set would be the Bruins’ only blunder of the night. The remaining frames remained a nip-and-tuck battle between the two teams, but UCLA’s depth proved instrumental to their eventual three-set winning spree.

Wednesday night featured several roster rotations, with players like graduate student outside/opposite hitter Joy Umeh, sophomore defensive specialist Sydney Breon, sophomore libero Kat Lutz and redshirt freshman middle blocker Brooklyn Briscoe – who hadn’t played since Sept. 27 – stepping onto the court and making key contributions.

Both Briscoe and Breon made it to the leaderboard with Briscoe contributing to eight blocks and Breon with eight digs.

“I thought our passers did an exceptional job tonight,” said coach Alfee Reft. “Washington is a good serving team, but having Sydney Breon come in and pass the heck out of the ball for us really freed up some of our outside hitters to focus on hitting and blocking.”

After winning the second set 26-24, the Bruins opened the third set with one point but allowed the Huskies to go on a 5-1 run.

However, UCLA quickly countered, mounting a 6-0 run – the longest of the match – to seize a 7-5 advantage. Olson was pivotal during this surge, delivering three service aces to shift the tides in favor of UCLA.

“Grayce is doing a lot for us right now,” Reft said. “She played six rotations tonight and stayed on the court the whole match. I think she passed the ball well for us and defended some balls. So on top of killing and blocking tonight, she served really well, causing a lot of trouble from the service line.”

Olson ended the night with 16 kills, second highest after junior outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette, and four blocks.

Olson added that setter Audrey Pak supported the team throughout the night. The graduate student racked up 51 assists and two aces to end the night, marking her third straight match with 50 assists or more.

“I think Audrey’s setting was really great,” Olson said. “She kept getting behind in the zone where I could tee off whatever I wanted and just the rest of the team, like giving me passes in the right zone to allow me to swing.”

Though UCLA walked away with a win against the No. 24 team in the country, another test is on the horizon – next, the team takes on its longstanding rival, No. 16 USC, on Sunday.