Once again, the Bruins returned home with empty hands and unfulfilled hearts.

The losing streak continues for No. 19 UCLA women’s volleyball (1-3), who fell in back-to-back matches against No. 24 TCU (3-1) Friday and Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Bruins narrowly avoided a complete sweep, only taking one set during the series.

“I’ll be honest, we’re disappointed,” said coach Alfee Reft. “There are just small and consistent execution plays that mature, really good teams make, and we’re just not making them right now. … The beauty in that is it’s pretty apparent what we got to work on.”

Although the Horned Frogs did not dominate offensively in the first match, the Bruins’ inconsistency cost them the game. Despite not losing a set by more than four points, UCLA racked up 27 attack errors and ended the affair with a hitting percentage of .096.

Senior outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette continued to bolster the offense, recording 14 kills, while freshman outside hitter Eliana Urzua added eight of her own on a .240 clip.

The Bruins continued to face the challenges of a new squad, especially in the red zone. The first set reached a 21-21 deadlock before junior outside hitter Maggie Li delivered a service ace. But the Horned Frogs stole back the momentum when outside hitter Becca Kelley put the next ball down for a kill. TCU carried that momentum into a 4-0 scoring run to end the set.

“Obviously, we still need to connect a lot of different pieces together, but I think that just comes with a little bit more time,” Urzua said. “But we got to figure out a way to connect a little bit faster.”

Saturday’s match gave the Bruins space for immediate redemption but ultimately mirrored the offensive insecurities revealed the night before.

After dropping the first two sets, UCLA clinched the third with the help of offensive players Urzua and senior outside hitter Carly Hendrickson’s eight combined kills – which contributed to the team’s best hitting percentage of the night at .316.

However, this momentum was short-lived. The Horned Frogs regained control in the fourth, boxing out the Bruins in a dominant 25-14 finish. Outside hitter Lauren Murphy led the attack with 16 kills on a .500 clip.

TCU’s imposing defense is only a glimpse of what UCLA will face as the season progresses against future Power Four opponents. The Horned Frogs’ size at the net forced the Bruins into strategic offensive plays and extended rallies.

“I think it’s only the beginning of seeing big blockers going into the Big Ten,” Hendrickson said. “That’s exciting because it’s fun to find ways to score other than just swinging, … just continuing to ride that out and expand our toolkits as hitters and just work on coverage so we can just extend rallies as long as possible.”

UCLA showed flashes of potential across the weekend but never quite found a way to sustain it. Across the two matches, UCLA committed 49 attack errors to TCU’s 35 and was out blocked 19-15.

Those numbers loomed largest in tight moments. Friday, with the Bruins down one set already, UCLA’s seven attack errors in the second set swung control to TCU for the win. Saturday, the blocking deficit created a wall at the net – inducing three attack errors out of Leverette during the last five points of the fourth set – allowing TCU to close out the decisive set.

Despite the final results across the weekend, Reft said the squad has heart and grit that will all pay off in the long run.

“The precision of our game – in many aspects – needs to grow and grow very fast,” Reft said. “We got to get back to the drawing board and individually and collectively become better volleyball players and tighter volleyball systems.”