Sometimes, it takes a punch in the mouth to come back stronger.

No. 3 UCLA men’s volleyball (6-3) took the brunt of the blow against No. 1 Long Beach State (10-0) on Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion. The Beach won in three sets, marking its second consecutive victory over the Bruins since falling to them in the national championship last year.

The defeat, along with the Bruins’ Friday loss to the Beach, cemented the Bruins’ first losing streak since 2021.

“This should be a wake-up call for us to get in the gym and get significantly better at a lot of phases,” said coach John Hawks.

In the first stanza, redshirt junior outside hitter Cooper Robinson paved the way with eight kills while redshirt sophomore opposite hitter David Decker added four of his own. With the score tied at 15, the Bruins leaned on their block to stifle the Beach’s attack and went on a 3-0 scoring run.

However, the Beach responded with a 3-0 run orchestrated by Long Beach setter Moni Nikolov to take control of the frame. The Beach’s varied attack allowed it to outlast the Bruins 25-23.

“It sucked to lose that set,” Robinson said. “We honestly gave it to them.”

Although the Bruins maintained a .355 hitting percentage and accumulated 16 kills in the first stanza, the attack still had one missing piece: outside hitter/opposite Ido David – who has not seen game action since he suffered an apparent head injury against Penn State on Jan. 31.

While the Bruins cleaned up their blunders from the service line – committing just 15 service errors Wednesday compared to 26 last Friday – they struggled to stymie the Beach’s attack.

The Beach finished the game with a .442 hitting percentage and 44 total kills – an improvement from the .295 hitting percentage registered in its previous matchup.

“We have got to be better defensively,” Hawks said. “We have to play harder and with more fire.”

The Beach jumped out to an early lead in the second frame, spurred by its six kills to open the set and ended the stanza with a .483 clip. The Bruins never recovered, dropping the set 25-19.

“We need to be better at maintaining competitiveness and excitement,” said junior setter Andrew Rowan.

The Bruins’ star power enabled a potential comeback. Rowan and Robinson combined for six kills, with Rowan contributing 10 assists to bolster the attack, and the Bruins held the lead for most of the third frame.

Junior outside hitter Zach Rama – who had a season-low hitting percentage of .067 and was benched for a majority of the second set – got off to a hot start as well with two early kills.

But similar to the first set, the Beach wore out the Bruins and took the set 25-23.

“Let it go, but hold to it,” Rowan said. “We’re not as good as we need to be right now, but the goal is to be the best at the end of the season.”

UCLA’s back-to-back losses come right before the start of conference play, in which it will battle No. 2 UC Irvine on Feb. 19 and 22.

It will be the programs’ first meeting since UCLA beat Irvine in five sets during the 2024 NCAA semifinal round.

“It’s going to be a catalyst for us, and we’re going to go forward from here,” Hawks said.