It was a spooky weekend for the home team.

UCLA women’s volleyball (15-8, 6-6 Big Ten) was swept 3-0 by No. 8 Wisconsin (16-6, 10-2) at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. The match marks the fourth loss the Bruins have suffered in as many games.

The Westwood squad began the affair trading points with the Badgers, with sophomore right side hitter Mija Bendziute and senior outside hitter Maggie Li each notching a few kills before the away team pulled ahead to enter the media timeout 15-10.

But Bendziute came out of the break with fire, kicking off a run of points for the Bruins with a cross-court kill. The Boca Raton, Florida, local ended the night with seven kills and a service ace.

Freshman middle blocker Brooke Harwood also got in on the action with back-to-back blocks to bring the score to 16-14. The Bruins eventually pulled even to 22-22 with a setter kill from junior Kate Duffey, who finished the three sets with 27 assists.

“Energy is super important,” said senior libero Kat Lutz. “Playing back row, being able just to highlight the girls that are up at the net and just giving them support.”

Lutz ended the night with 11 digs and two assists. Also in the backrow was sophomore outside hitter Ava Utterback, serving as a defensive specialist, who finished the match with seven digs.

Eventually, Wisconsin was able to close out the first frame, taking it 25-22, the closest margin of the night.

UCLA was not ready to roll over, though, beginning the second set 4-1. That was until things started to go south as the Badgers forced errors and put away kills to take a 15-8 lead into the media timeout.

And the deficit was too much for the Bruins to recover from, even with a 4-2 run. Junior setter Ava Sarafa and sophomore middle blocker Jordyn Johnson came in, helping out with blocks and block touches – but it would not be enough, and the blue and gold lost the second set 25-17.

Things followed in a similar fashion during the third set, with the Westwood squad showing promise in the beginning before slipping behind to lose once again 25-17, marking the second time this season the Bruins have been swept at home.

“Both teams were pretty flat to start,” said coach Matt Werle. “They raised their level, and we just stayed just kind of ‘blah‘ for lack of better terms.”

The squad ended the night with 39 kills and 34 digs to Wisconsin’s 45 and 43, respectively. The offense was kept to a .142 hitting percentage, its third lowest of the season.

But even with the loss, the squad is trying to focus on the positive heading into another week of Big Ten play.

“I love every second of it, no matter if it’s an up or down,” Utterback said. “I love it all.”