Being at the top comes with expectations.

But with the postseason around the corner, the job is far from finished.

And for many Bruins, this season is their last chance to hoist a title.

No. 1 UCLA men’s volleyball (24-1, 11-1 MPSF) will end its regular season in a home double-header against No. 8 BYU (20-9, 7-5) at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night and Saturday afternoon. The latter bout will also feature the Bruins’ Senior Night celebration, with six soon-to-be graduates – five of whom are starters.

And the Cougars will arrive in Westwood as the Bruins’ final test before the postseason.

BYU recently added a top-five win to its resume after defeating then-No. 4 Trojans on its home turf in Provo, Utah, last weekend, marking their sixth ranked win of the season. BYU also picked up ranked wins earlier in the season with triumphs against then-No. 10 UC San Diego, then-No. 15 UC Santa Barbara and then-No. 20 Lincoln Memorial. However, BYU has especially struggled against top-ranked opponents, and the USC victory was its first top-five win this season.

But the Cougars have demonstrated they can contend with – and beat – the nation’s best.

For coach John Hawks, matchups like these are as much about learning as they are about winning.

“In just over two matches, you learn a lot about each other,” Hawks said April 4 after UCLA’s 3-1 victory over then-No. 6 Pepperdine. “What works, what doesn’t work, what stresses you feel during certain matches.”

But the two matches won’t just be about postseason preparation.

It will also serve as the Bruins’ Senior Week.

Redshirt juniors libero Christopher Connelly, opposite David Decker and middle blocker Christopher Hersh, alongside seniors middle blocker Cameron Thorne, outside hitter Zach Rama and setter Andrew Rowan, will be recognized in what will be their last time playing a regular-season contest at Pauley Pavilion.

Connelly, who spent three seasons at Long Beach State before transferring to UCLA, has already made two national championship appearances and helped the Beach beat the Bruins to clinch the NCAA title last year. This season, Connelly posted a season-high 15 digs against No. 5 UC Irvine on Feb. 27, and he has notched 160 digs to date. Decker posted career highs this season with five aces against Concordia on Jan. 11, 22 kills against No. 7 Ball State on Jan. 17 and six blocks against Irvine on Feb. 27.

Before arriving in Westwood, Thorne led the country in 2024 with 149 total blocks, spearheading a NCAA-semifinal run with Grand Canyon. With the Bruins, Thorne has recorded 250 total kills – 165 this season – and 118 total blocks. Thorne notably posted a season-high 13 kills against then-No. 2 Long Beach State on Feb. 20.

After making just a handful of starts to start his career, Rama stepped into a full-time role as the primary opposite and tallied double-digit kills in 20 out of 27 starts last season. With the Bruins, Rama boasts 831 career kills – just over 300 in each of his last two seasons – 267 digs and 135 blocks.

A veteran presence at the net, Rowan has conducted the Bruins’ offense at the front line for four years, guiding two national championship squads and tallying over 4,000 career assists. Rowan has orchestrated offenses that have ranked among the nation’s best in hitting percentage, with a .372 clip in 2024 and a .364 mark last season.

But Rowan said there’s still a need for improvement, even at the top.

“When you squeak those games out, there’s not as much emphasis on how do we get better from it – it just gets overlooked a little bit,” Rowan said April 4. “Having a tight game and then losing puts a lot of emphasis on what did they do good, what did we do bad and how are we going to fix that.”