It seems like a long time on the road early in the season paid off.

UCLA women’s volleyball (13-4, 4-2 Big Ten) notched a pair of wins during its travels to Maryland (12-5, 2-4) and Rutgers (10-8, 1-5), taking Friday’s match in five sets before heading to New Jersey to win 3-1 Saturday.

Kicking off the weekend in College Park, Maryland, the Bruins dropped the first set 23-25 after a late rally. Building on the momentum, they took the second set 25-20 to even the score, hitting at a .313 clip with 16 kills and securing five blocks in the frame.

Across the night, senior outside hitter Maggie Li led both teams with 19 kills on a .357 clip and three blocks. Sophomore right side hitter Mija Bendziute had a career-high 14 kills, and two other players reached double digits – middle blockers freshman Brooke Harwood with 12 and fifth-year Marianna Singletary with 11, the latter adding a match-high eight blocks.

In the third set, the teams traded points until a pair of kills from Harwood gave the Bruins a narrow lead.

But when junior libero Lola Schumacher – who had already accumulated 10 digs and an ace – was forced to leave due to injury, the Bruins struggled to hold on. After the media timeout, Maryland took solid control of the game, taking the set 25-21.

Rallying back, junior setter Kate Duffey and Singletary teamed up for a block as the Bruins took an 8-6 lead early in the fourth set. Sophomore middle blocker Hazel Alevok came off the bench hot with a kill and a block, ultimately finishing the night hitting .500 and collecting a second block.

Singletary remained a formidable presence at the net with both her blocking and hitting, and the Bruins pressured the Terrapins from the service line, going on to take the fourth set 25-13 – the largest margin of victory all night.

The fifth set saw a battle, with Duffey going over on the second contact to keep the teams tied 8-8. She finished the night with 46 assists, 18 digs and five kills on a .833 clip.

With eight ties across 27 points, the Bruins managed to pull ahead at 11-9 and retain their lead to close out the five-set thriller 15-12.

“It’s interesting that we’re so much more locked in when the sets are tight, and when you start pulling away with some sort of lead, we lose a little bit of focus,” said coach Matt Werle. “We get a little bit casual in moments that we really shouldn’t have.”

But the weekend was far from over.

Heading to Rutgers with some of the team facing injury, some Bruins received their first starts of the season.

Senior libero Kat Lutz began the game in the white jersey, and sophomore middle blocker Jordyn Johnson also had her first career start for the blue and gold.

“It’s amazing,” Johnson said. “This has been a dream since I’ve been a kid. I grew up watching the University of Minnesota back home up in St. Paul, and even though getting on the court yesterday wasn’t under the best of circumstances because of injuries, I’m happy that I was able to come in and finish the job that our team needed.”

Johnson had a season-high and team-high seven blocks on the night, as well as ten kills, proving why she was a key pickup from the transfer portal.

Bendziute continued her impressive weekend, tallying season-highs of six blocks – all assisted – four service aces and 19 total points.

Li followed closely with 18 points, most coming from her team-high 16 kills.

UCLA took the first frame 25-15, including a 5-0 run from Johnson and Bendziute. A 4-0 run kicked off the second set, thanks to errors from the opposing team. Maintaining a commanding lead, Johnson tallied three blocks in a four-point span, and the Bruins closed out with a Bendziute ace and a pair of kills from Li.

But Rutgers still had some fight left.

“Rutgers definitely changed up their lineup, so there were new faces that we weren’t used to, and in general, we had the gas on them for the first two sets, and then for the third, we maybe let up a little bit,” Bendziute said. “We locked in a little bit too late in the third to finish out that set.”

Down 21-24, the Bruins managed to even the score and trade points back-and-forth, with a kill from sophomore outside hitter Eliana Urzua tying the score 26-26.

Another Bendziute ace gave UCLA its first match point of the night, but service errors on both sides extended the game further until finally Rutgers scraped together a 3-0 run to take the third set 31-29.

Jumping out of the gate quickly, the Bruins got off to an early lead in set four before the Scarlet Knights pulled back into it, tying up the set at 22 apiece.

Li put the finishing touch on a successful weekend with three consecutive kills to close out the Bruins’ time away from Westwood.

“With this being our third week in the Big Ten, we’re starting to feel it a little bit, and we were dealing with some injuries,” Johnson said. “But we have a very deep roster, and I feel like we were able to still pull through with all of the difficulties that we were facing, even with travel and the fatigue that our team is feeling. That was really big for us.”