How long an alleged “blue blood” can go without a national title – or even just a deep playoff run – without jeopardizing its status is an ever-constant argument.
So despite UCLA women’s volleyball’s seven national titles – four coming under the NCAA – the 14 years since the Bruins’ last national title, nine years since their last regional final and three seasons since their last postseason appearance throw the program’s blue blood status into question.
But after a myriad of middling campaigns – and a 2024 season that ended with the Bruins below .500 for the first time since 2018 – this season could turn the tide.
No. 18 UCLA women’s volleyball begins its 2025 campaign with a tour of Southern California – first facing Long Beach State (1-1) on Monday in Long Beach before a duel with Pepperdine (2-1) in Malibu.
While the upcoming season will be UCLA’s third under Alfee Reft, one could argue this is the first year the coach is playing with his own pieces – and far fewer excuses.
Across Reft’s first two campaigns, players he inherited from coach Michael Sealy started 229 matches to his own recruits’ 125.
But after bringing in just 13 players to the program over the past two seasons, this year’s 10 newcomers now outnumber the eight returners on the 2025 roster. Senior outside hitter and AVCA Player of the Year Watch List honoree Cheridyn Leverette is the only remaining member of Sealy’s final Bruin squad.
And of UCLA’s five incoming transfers, three – sophomore libero/defensive specialist Lola Schumacher, redshirt junior middle blocker Marianna Singletary and graduate student middle blocker Phekran Kong – played in the NCAA tournament last season, bringing postseason experience to a program that hasn’t sniffed the playoffs since 2021.
The two other transfers aren’t too shabby on paper either. Junior outside hitter Maggie Li comes to UCLA after finishing third in the ACC in kills per set with California and subsequently being named to the AVCA Player of the Year Watch List ahead of the upcoming season. Meanwhile, graduate student setter and 2023 Big West Setter of the Year Zayna Meyer will coincidentally begin her Bruin career where she called home for the past three seasons – Walter Pyramid.
The Beach hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2014 and was picked to finish fifth of 11 teams in the Big West’s preseason coaches poll, with no players making the seven-member all-conference squad. Meanwhile, the Waves seemed to just miss out on their fifth consecutive postseason after a 17-11 finish in 2024. And with Pepperdine picked to finish second in the West Coast Conference’s preseason coaches poll with three all-conference selections in middle blockers Ella Piskorz and Vanessa Polk, plus outside hitter Iva Popovic, it’ll likely be looking to make a statement when it faces UCLA on its home turf, the Firestone Fieldhouse.
The Bruins will undoubtedly shoulder their highest expectations in years as they open their upcoming campaign. Prior to its current top-20 preseason ranking, UCLA had only made the AVCA’s poll once under Reft – a one-week stint at the No. 25 spot toward the beginning of last season.
And despite an 8-12 record in their inaugural Big Ten voyage, which landed them in the bottom half of the 18-team conference, the Bruins were picked to finish fifth by the preseason coaches poll, with four members on the 20-person all-conference team, with Leverette being the Bruins’ only nontransfer selection.
However, before UCLA can tackle its 20-match slate in arguably the nation’s toughest women’s volleyball conference, it’ll have to handle business on its 10-match nonconference road trip.
Year three of the Reft era begins Monday at 5 p.m., with the Bruins facing off against the Waves beginning Tuesday at 6 p.m.
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