A highly anticipated return to Westwood.

UCLA women’s volleyball (11-4, 2-2 Big Ten) swept Michigan (10-5, 1-3) on Saturday after falling 3-0 to Michigan State (13-1, 3-1) Friday night. The pair of games marked the squad’s return home after being on the road for 11 straight matches.

The Bruins came up short against the Spartans with set scores of 25-16, 25-19 and 25-14.

Michigan State came out of the gate swinging, taking an early lead and forcing UCLA to use a timeout. A block followed by a kill from sophomore outside hitter Eliana Urzua gave the Bruins a small spark that died out as the Spartans took a nine-point lead going into the media timeout.

After hitting -.125 as a team in the first set, UCLA managed to put up a stronger fight to kick off the second. Fifth-year middle blocker Marianna Singletary came through with big plays to keep the Bruins in the game, and the switch from junior setter Kate Duffey to fellow junior Ava Sarafa helped regain momentum, but was not enough to even the score.

Sarafa kicked off the third set with a solo block and the lone Bruin ace of the night, yet the Spartans rallied back quickly to regain control and end the match with a comfortable 11-point advantage.

“There was a team yesterday that I didn’t even recognize, and we talked about it briefly,” said coach Matt Werle. “We’re a little bit behind us. I still think there’s a lot of things that need to be addressed.”

And Saturday night, it appeared to be a completely different team on the court.

Taking the first set 25-12, the Bruins dominated the Wolverines. Across all three sets, Singletary led the team with 14 kills on a .478 hitting percentage, followed by freshman middle blocker Brooke Harwood with 11.

“She’s incredible, and the way, as a freshman, she’s handled pressure is phenomenal,” Duffey said. “I can count multiple times today when she maybe had an error or was blocked, and she said, ‘Give me the next ball.’ That’s an amazing and talented attitude as a freshman. She wants to get better so bad every day. She’s working so hard at practice.”

And she had plenty of opportunities to keep swinging.

Not to be deterred, Michigan forced UCLA to maintain its level of play, keeping the second set much closer in a back-and-forth battle. A service run from junior defensive specialist/libero Lola Schumacher helped pull the Bruins ahead 8-4.

As the set continued, kills from both sides saw the score stay nearly level until another Bruin run gave the squad a 20-15 lead.

But Michigan bounced back with a run of their own – aided by UCLA hitting errors – pushing the set to extra points. At 27-27, a kill from sophomore right side hitter Mija Bendziute and a Singletary block allowed UCLA to narrowly take set two going into the break.

“We got a little bit casual in moments that we really shouldn’t have,” Werle said. “I thought our six defenders did a really nice job tonight. That’s something that we’ve been really emphasizing in our practice gym too. They follow the scout, and we did a little bit less on the scout portion today than we have been, and let them play a little bit more.”

Unwilling to give up, Michigan once again pushed UCLA to extra points in set three.

The Bruins managed to take the set 28-26 after a kill from Harwood and an attacking error from the opposing side. Duffey finished the night with 41 assists and two kills of her own, while Schumacher held down the back court with 15 digs – with the team combining for 49 on the night.

“She’s a piece back there,” Singletary said. “A whole half court is her court, and even in serve-receive, she takes up more than half of the court. That speaks to what a baller she is. It gives me a lot of confidence that even if I don’t get the block or if I get a slowdown touch, I know it’s up. She’s super greedy for our team and really gets the fire going for us and gives the hitters confidence.”