Utah State led early in every set Saturday. No. 24 BYU swept anyway because those starts kept running into the same blue wall.
The Cougars beat the Aggies 25-19, 25-18, 25-17 at Smith Fieldhouse with a 12-4 blocking advantage and a .386 hitting percentage. Claire Little Chambers led the attack with 14 kills on .429 hitting. Sophia Callahan supplied 11 kills without an attack error and joined Kelli Jo Burgess at the center of the net defense.
The final looks routine. The route was not. Utah State led 15-10 in the first set, 4-1 in the second and 7-4 in the third. BYU had to solve the match three times, then did it with enough force that none of the sets reached 20 for the Aggies.
BYU-Utah State match receipt
| Category | BYU | Utah State |
|---|---|---|
| Final | 3 | 0 |
| Set scores | 25, 25, 25 | 19, 18, 17 |
| Kills | 43 | 35 |
| Attack errors | 9 | 19 |
| Attempts | 88 | 99 |
| Hitting percentage | .386 | .162 |
| Blocks | 12 | 4 |
| Aces | 2 | 4 |
| Service errors | 5 | 10 |
| Digs | 34 | 33 |
The numbers describe a match BYU won at the net rather than from the service line or back row. Utah State had two more aces. The teams were separated by one dig. BYU’s advantage came from turning 88 swings into 43 kills with only nine errors while making the Aggies absorb 19 attacking mistakes.
That distinction matters. This was not an opponent giving away three sets through reception errors. BYU had to take the best swings away.
The first comeback changed the afternoon
Utah State’s strongest stretch came first. Sami Blackett and Olivia Ruy helped the Aggies build an 8-5 lead, and Addy Cook’s work on the left helped push it to 15-10. At that point, Utah State had the same ingredients that produced Thursday’s win over Utah Valley: its pins were scoring and BYU was chasing.
Then Little Chambers found the floor, BYU’s block began closing space and the set flipped. The Cougars scored nine consecutive points during the turnaround and moved from five behind to control. Utah State stopped the run, but it never recovered the set. Little Chambers finished the frame with seven kills on 13 swings, and BYU hit .444 while holding the Aggies to .103.
That was the most important sequence of the match because it settled two questions from the pregame watch guide. Utah State’s 3-1 win over Utah Valley was real enough to travel for half a set. BYU’s depth was real enough to answer it without waiting for the Aggies to cool off.
The comeback was not built on a flood of aces. BYU did not record one in the opening set. It came from transition swings and five team blocks, with Little Chambers, Burgess, Callahan and Brooke Hardy all involved at the net.
Utah State’s attack was still producing 12 kills, only two fewer than BYU. The eight errors and five BYU blocks changed the exchange. An Aggie swing did not have to land out to become a problem. BYU was giving hitters less court and forcing another attempt.
Callahan replaced Thursday’s rough line with a perfect error column
Callahan entered Saturday with an immediate repair available. She had four kills and five errors on 17 attempts in Thursday’s sweep at Weber State, a minus-.059 hitting line. Anna Blamires covered that difficult night with 12 kills of her own.
Against Utah State, Callahan did not need cover. She put away 11 kills on 17 swings without an error, a .647 percentage, and added six block assists. Her second set was almost clinical: four kills on five attempts. In the third, she scored four more kills on eight swings and participated in five blocks.
The timing was as useful as the total. Utah State opened the third set 7-4 for its third early lead. An Elli Mortensen ace and a Little Chambers kill pulled BYU even. Callahan and Burgess then combined on consecutive blocks before Callahan delivered three kills and another block during the run to 15-10.
One match does not erase the Weber State line, but it changes the right-side question. Blamires proved Thursday that BYU had another option when Callahan was stuck. Callahan proved Saturday that the original option could respond two days later with zero errors.
That is a healthier answer than choosing one player and discarding the other. Blamires still entered the third set and had two kills on four swings. BYU leaves nonconference play with evidence that both opposites can solve a match, even if their best nights have not arrived together yet.
Burgess and Callahan owned the net math
Burgess’ attacking line was small and clean: four kills, no errors, seven attempts. Her larger contribution was seven block assists, the match high. Pair her with Callahan and BYU received 15 kills, zero attack errors on 24 swings and 13 block assists.
That is the core of the sweep.
BYU’s full team hit .386, but its third-set percentage dropped to .206 as six attack errors appeared. The block kept that sloppier frame from becoming a fourth set. BYU recorded six blocks in the third and held Utah State to .097.
Ruy led Utah State with 11 kills. Blackett had 10. Both were credible enough to demand attention, but neither could sustain the efficiency from Thursday’s Utah Valley win. Ruy made seven errors and hit .167. Blackett made five errors on a match-high 38 swings and hit .132. In the third set, Blackett had one kill and three errors on 14 attempts.
That third-set line is where BYU’s net pressure becomes more than a box-score total. Blackett still received volume because Utah State needed her. BYU knew it and kept bringing a formed block. Some attacks came back directly; others were redirected into the defense or pushed into lower-percentage choices.
The Aggies had their best offensive set in the second, hitting .310 with 14 kills. BYU answered by hitting .556, with 16 kills and one error. The block was quieter in that frame, so the Cougars simply won the cleaner attacking contest.
That balance made Utah State’s path narrow. When BYU blocked well, the Aggies could not score efficiently enough. When the Aggies did score efficiently, BYU’s own offense was better.
The setter reunion favored BYU’s distribution
Kaylie Kofe faced her former team and finished with 20 assists, eight digs and one ace. Alex Bower added 18 assists and eight digs. Lulu Po’uha supplied five more assists as BYU recorded an assist on all 43 kills.
Silina Damuni, who transferred from BYU to Utah State, had 26 assists and 13 digs for her third consecutive double-double. She handled most of the Aggies’ setting work, while BYU kept sharing the offense between Kofe and Bower.
The difference showed in who could absorb a difficult rotation. Utah State leaned on Ruy and Blackett for 21 of its 35 kills and 62 of its 99 attacks. BYU’s top two scorers, Little Chambers and Callahan, produced 25 kills on 45 attempts, but Burgess, Mortensen, Hardy, Kate Prior and Blamires still combined for another 18 kills.
The Utah Valley sweep showed what BYU’s middle depth could do while Burgess was out. Weber State showed Blamires could steady the right side. Utah State brought those pieces together: Burgess controlled the block, Callahan bounced back, Little Chambers carried the largest attacking load and both setters kept the other lanes available.
A useful warning survived the sweep
BYU should not carry three slow starts into Big 12 play and expect the block to rescue each one.
Utah State led by at least three points early in every set. The Aggies entered at 1-8 and still reached the first media timeout ahead 15-10. Against a ranked conference opponent, that same opening can become a set loss before the correction arrives.
The serve-receive numbers also leave work. Utah State scored four aces while BYU had two. Justyna Novakova recorded three of them. BYU won comfortably because its attack and block overwhelmed that deficit, not because every phase was clean.
Still, the correction deserves credit. The Cougars did not panic when the first set reached 15-10. They did not need a timeout-length reset between sets. Each time Utah State landed the first punch, BYU identified the available lane and took the lead back.
The match lasted 87 minutes in front of 4,866 fans. BYU improved to 8-1 and closed its in-state week with three sweeps. The receipts were different in each one, which is better preparation than repeating the same easy answer.
No. 18 Baylor visits Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. Mountain on FS1 for BYU’s Big 12 opener. The permanent volleyball schedule will carry the official event and access links, and the volleyball results page keeps Saturday’s final.
Baylor will not care that BYU swept three in-state teams. It will care whether the same block that took Utah State’s pins out of rhythm is waiting on Friday, and whether the Cougars need five-point deficits before turning it on.
Sources and further reading
- BYU Athletics: Little Chambers, Callahan pace the sweep for the official result, set sequence, player leaders and Baylor follow-up.
- BYU Athletics event 25281 for the stable schedule ID, completed status, Smith Fieldhouse venue, official recap ID, box score and WMT match identity.
- Finalized WMT game 6603868 and player statistics for the final, set scores, team splits, player lines, records, attendance and 87-minute duration.
- Utah State Athletics: nonconference finale at BYU for independent confirmation of the set scores, Utah State’s early leads, Aggie leaders and next match.
- BYU Sport Nuts: Utah State watch guide, Weber State recap, Utah Valley recap and volleyball schedule.
