November means many things for Bruin fans – homecoming, the battle for the Victory Bell and the final stretch before winter break.

But for UCLA women’s volleyball (13-14, 7-11 Big Ten), November’s end means the season’s final road series. Two thousand miles away in the midwest, the team suffered a sweep at the hands of Indiana (13-15, 6-12) Friday night before rebounding with a 3-1 over Illinois (18-10, 10-8) Saturday.

“I would say no better depiction of the Big Ten than the last two days, where we played an Indiana team who was playing hot and probably played a better match than they’ve played all year,” said coach Alfee Reft. “But then a great response from our team coming back against a very good Illinois team.”

Filling in for graduate student middle blocker Anna Dodson – who was absent from Friday’s action – was redshirt freshman middle blocker Brooklyn Briscoe, who made her first start in three weeks. Despite the freshman’s season-high eight kills, the Bruins failed to find a rhythm.

Briscoe and junior outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette combined for 20 kills, but Indiana outside hitter Candela Alonso-Corcelles matched that figure on her own, leading all scorers.

UCLA couldn’t eclipse 20 points in either of the first two sets, leaving little room to recover against an Indiana team that, despite being ranked lower in the Big Ten, looked to play with greater consistency and execution.

“Hats off to them (Indiana),” Reft said. “We were not so sharp with missing Anna yesterday, but tonight (Saturday) was one of the cleanest performances we’ve had all year.”

And clean it was on Saturday. The Bruins’ performance Saturday saw the highest hitting percentage in five matches in their 3-1 victory over the Fighting Illini – a team ranked two spots higher in conference standings.

The Bruins hit .302 as a team while holding the Fighting Illini to .270. Leverette outshone her teammates on the Bruins’ half of the hardwood – tallying 18 kills on a .273 hitting percentage.

Saturday also saw the return of Dodson, who contributed 14 kills at a .611 clip.

UCLA outshone Illinois in kills, aces and blocks, much of which came down to serving.

“We made a lot more unforced errors on the service game and in passing (Saturday),” Reft said. “We were just a lot cleaner tonight, which again, comes back to serve and pass, and I thought we did that pretty well tonight.”