The Washington State University volleyball team wrapped up the first half of its conference schedule with two losses in Los Angeles this weekend.

The Cougars (15-8, 2-8) were swept 3-0 by No. 4 USC (18-2, 8-1) Friday night and dropped their match to UCLA (12-8, 3-7) 3-1 Saturday night.

The match against the Trojans Friday was the second match of the season against a top-five ranked team for the Cougars, both of which they lost.

“(USC doesn’t) make many errors,” WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said in a press release. “When we do have those opportunities sometimes we just couldn’t put the ball away. I thought we played really hard at times. There were some really long rallies, and we dug a lot of balls, but we couldn’t put the ball away to win those long rallies.”

USC dominated the match early and often, winning with set scores of 25-18, 25-13 and 25-19. The Trojans out-hit WSU .310 to .088 in the match.

Leading the Cougar offense were freshman Hailey Bethune, who recorded seven kills, and freshman Emmy Allen with six.

“When our passing got into a rhythm, we were able to do some really good things,” Greeny said. “I thought Hailey Bethune did a nice job tonight, and she was able to put the ball away.”

WSU followed the USC sweep with a 3-1 loss to UCLA with set scores of 18-25, 25-18, 19-25, and 16-25.

After dropping the first set, the Cougars were able to put together a .394 hitting performance in the second set, which tied the match at 1-1. However, UCLA took the third and fourth sets convincingly and put the match away.

“I thought we did some great things in the second set and started out well in the third, and then our passing broke down,” Greeny said. “And when that happens we become pretty predictable, and we couldn’t get the ball back to our middles.”

After recording zero players with double-digit kills against USC, the Cougars managed to get three players into double digits against UCLA. Freshman Kyra Holt led the way with 12 kills, while senior Marcelina Glab and junior Ver’Leea Hardaway both added 10 kills each.

UCLA out-hit the Cougars .265 to .201 and out-blocked eight to seven in the match.

Next up for WSU is a return home to start the second half of conference play. The Cougars take on Colorado and Utah Nov. 1-2.