This post was Oct. 23 at 11:48 p.m.
The Bruin Shuffle is a fixture of dead time at UCLA sports games.
A trio of sport-specific items clutters the jumbotron before a single item, often a ball, is concealed under one of the three.
After the trio dances and darts across the screen, spectators and fans alike will typically scream at the videoboard over the hidden object’s location – usually creating brief pandemonium before play on the field, court or diamond resumes.
The sound of Wednesday’s Bruin Shuffle may have caused Pauley Pavilion’s largest ruckus of the night.
No. 25 UCLA women’s volleyball (11-8, 5-4 Big Ten) gave the Bruin faithful little else to cheer about in its straight-set loss to Oregon (13-6, 4-5). The Bruins blew a 16-14 lead in the first set, never led in the second and forfeited a 14-10 and 21-19 advantage in the third.
“They were prepared for us at every angle,” said coach Alfee Reft. “We were not as prepared. We didn’t execute a game plan. … It felt like we were playing from behind the whole match. … We were just chasing a lot of hitters.”
The Bruins’ 2025 campaign has been confounding.
UCLA beat then-No. 15 Penn State, then-No. 14 Minnesota and then-No. 22 USC. However, it also got reverse swept by then-No. 13 Purdue and lost to unranked opponents Pepperdine, Indiana and Oregon.
Through nine conference matches, UCLA’s .212 hitting percentage Wednesday ranks second-worst behind Oct. 17’s .062 clip against then-No. 9 Wisconsin – another straight-set loss.
Meanwhile, Oregon’s .327 hitting percentage – punctuated by a trio of double-digit-kill performances – is its best mark against a Big Ten opponent this season.
Senior outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette – UCLA’s kills leader by 80 and the only Bruin to reach double digits Wednesday – paced the team with 12 kills, but seven of her kills came in the third frame, with her teammates totalling just eight in the final set.
“Sticking with it and trusting our training and knowing these are just some small misses,” Leverette said. “Keep being aggressive and doing what I do and it’ll come.”
Eliana Urzua finished Wednesday with six kills, but only two came after the first set as the freshman outside hitter ended the affair with a .130 clip.
Urzua’s story wasn’t unique. Of the five Bruins with five or more kills, only Leverette finished with a hitting percentage above .250.
“We added a lot of new pieces to the team. … We’re continuing to learn how we play next to each other,” said redshirt junior middle blocker Marianna Singletary, who compiled six kills on a .235 clip Wednesday. “It’s the Big Ten – every single night is going to be a fight for your life.”
The Ducks were seemingly doing more to keep the Bruins afloat at times. Oregon finished with 10 service errors – committing five blunders in a second set that didn’t even have a tie.
Sophomore Kate Duffey earned her 18th start at setter, but Reft subbed in graduate student Zayna Meyer with the Bruins down 16-9 in the second frame. Meyer – in her first appearance since Sept. 21 – finished with five assists as UCLA outscored Oregon 10-9 with her on the floor, but Reft ushered Duffey back on the hardwood in the third.
“We can give somebody some space to maybe see the game differently, but Duffey has set us all year and she’s been tremendous,” Reft said. “We went with the pieces that have won lots of big matches (in the third set).”
Maybe the most intriguing part of the night was when sophomore libero Lola Schumacher dumped the ball into the vacant Duck back corner to record a kill in the second set – just the third of her career.
Ahead of Wednesday’s match, UCLA had placed blue paper sheets of “Volleyball Traditions” across various seats.
One of those “Traditions” was to “stand up and put a 1 in the air” on set points.
But for the Bruin fans in the 634-person crowd – the fewest for a women’s volleyball match at the 13,800-seat Pauley Pavilion since November 2024 – they never even had such an opportunity.
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