BYU women’s volleyball was picked seventh in the Big 12 on Tuesday. The same coaches who placed the Cougars in the middle of the league also put three of them on the 18-player preseason team.
That is not a contradiction. It is the cleanest description of BYU’s 2026 season.
Alex Bower, Claire Little Chambers and Brielle Kemavor give first-year coach Rob Neilson an established setter, outside hitter and middle blocker. The conference still put six teams ahead of BYU because last year’s Cougars finished sixth after being picked first, lost their most productive attacker and changed coaches.
Seventh is not disrespect. It is a demand for proof from a team with enough returning talent to provide it.
The drop from first is earned
BYU received 180 points and six first-place votes in the 2025 Big 12 preseason poll. The Cougars then went 10-8 in conference play, finished sixth and lost to Cal Poly in five sets in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The full season was hardly a collapse. BYU went 22-9, stayed in the AVCA poll all year and finished No. 25. It also beat ranked TCU, Colorado and Kansas during league play. But a preseason favorite is supposed to do more than finish six places below its projection and leave the NCAA Tournament on opening weekend.
The coaches remembered that miss. BYU received 122 points this time, nine behind sixth-place Iowa State and four ahead of eighth-place Utah. Arizona State took 12 of 15 first-place votes and 194 points. TCU got the other three first-place votes and 177.
| Poll marker | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| BYU’s Big 12 place | 1st | 7th |
| Poll points | 180 | 122 |
| First-place votes | 6 | 0 |
| Returning BYU preseason-team players | Bower, Little Chambers, Kemavor | Bower, Little Chambers, Kemavor |
That last row is the interesting one. The same three-player core remains, but the league’s opinion of the team around it has changed sharply.
Three honorees give BYU a complete first contact
Preseason teams can become name-recognition exercises. BYU’s three selections are more useful because they cover three different pieces of a rally.
Bower recorded 1,265 assists in 2025, the second-highest total of BYU’s 25-point rally-scoring era. She also produced eight double-doubles and led the team in digs seven times. BYU does not have to teach a new setter how to run this roster while Neilson installs his version of the offense.
Little Chambers gives Bower a proven pin option. She reached double-digit kills in 26 matches last season, led BYU in kills nine times and tied Bower with eight double-doubles. Her job is bigger now because Suli Davis, who led BYU with 541 kills as a freshman, officially joined SMU for 2026.
Kemavor is the middle of the argument. She led BYU in blocks in 19 of 31 matches, hit a Big 12-best .372 and was one of eight unanimous preseason selections. A middle who scores efficiently and changes attacks at the net can steady a team while new outside-hitter combinations sort themselves out.
The trio does not replace Davis by committee just because that sentence sounds tidy. Her 541 kills were 32.7 percent of BYU’s 1,656 team kills. That production left the roster. Bower, Little Chambers and Kemavor give Neilson a credible structure for finding the next points, not a magic way to pretend the missing points never existed.
The national poll agrees with the coaches
The conference vote is not an isolated slight. The AVCA preseason poll published by NCAA.com places BYU at No. 24 nationally.
Five Big 12 teams are ahead of the Cougars there: No. 12 Arizona State, No. 15 Kansas, No. 18 TCU, No. 21 Baylor and No. 23 Colorado. Iowa State, the team immediately ahead of BYU in the league vote, received 104 points outside the Top 25.
The two polls are saying roughly the same thing. BYU belongs in the national field, but the top half of this conference has more current trust. The Cougars do not need a respect campaign. They need wins against the teams occupying that space.
The 2026 schedule gives them chances quickly. BYU’s first external exhibition is Utah Tech at noon Mountain on Aug. 22. The regular season begins with Florida State and Florida Gulf Coast, then brings Pittsburgh and UCLA to Smith Fieldhouse before Big 12 play. Baylor visits Provo for the conference opener on Sept. 25.
We already mapped why BYU’s early schedule has teeth. Tuesday’s polls make those matches more useful. Pittsburgh is No. 4 in the AVCA preseason poll. UCLA received votes. Baylor is one of the five league teams ranked ahead of BYU nationally. The Cougars can change the conversation before October arrives.
Neilson inherited a roster, not a grace period
Neilson is new to this job, but he is not receiving a teardown. BYU’s current volleyball roster has 19 players and seven seniors. Three returning players just received conference recognition. That is too much experience to turn every early mistake into a transition-year excuse.
It is also fair to expect an adjustment. Heather Olmstead’s teams established the program’s recent standard, and Neilson is replacing a coach after consecutive sixth-place Big 12 finishes and first-round NCAA exits. Different training priorities and lineup choices will need real matches before they become reliable.
His official record gives BYU reason to be impatient in a healthy way. BYU’s hiring announcement credits Neilson with a 112-59 record over six seasons at Utah State. His 2025 team went 18-0 in the Mountain West, won the conference tournament and beat Tennessee for Utah State’s first NCAA Tournament victory since 2001.
That background does not guarantee an immediate jump in a stronger league. It does explain why BYU hired him to solve a specific problem: turn good regular-season pieces into a team that holds up through conference play and advances in December.
The first checks are simple. Does Bower maintain an efficient connection with Kemavor while the outside rotation changes? Can Little Chambers absorb more high-pressure swings without losing the back-row value behind her double-doubles? Which newcomer or returner claims enough attacking volume to keep opponents from loading up on those two?
Those answers matter more than whether seventh feels flattering.
BYU has a better argument than an excuse
The 2026 poll gives BYU a narrow middle position. The Cougars are nine points from sixth and four points from eighth. National voters see them as the last Big 12 team inside the Top 25, with Iowa State close behind.
That is a useful starting line. It acknowledges the three known stars without ignoring the lost kills, new coach and 10-8 conference record.
BYU’s counterargument is already on the roster. Bower can run the offense. Little Chambers can finish and defend. Kemavor can score efficiently and close the net. Neilson has won with less established talent than this.
Now the Cougars have to connect those facts. Last August’s first-place vote became a warning about paper expectations. This August’s seventh-place vote can become something better, but only if BYU turns its three preseason names into six-player volleyball.
Sources and further reading
- BYU Athletics: 2026 Big 12 poll and preseason team for the full vote, Bower/Little Chambers/Kemavor selections and 2025 player receipts.
- NCAA.com: 2026 AVCA preseason Top 25 for the national ranking and vote totals.
- BYU Athletics: 2025 season review for BYU’s record, sixth-place finish, NCAA result and team statistics.
- SMU Athletics: Suli Davis transfer signing for her official 2026 destination.
- BYU Athletics: Rob Neilson hired as head coach for his Utah State record and 2025 results.
- BYU Sport Nuts: volleyball hub, roster and schedule.
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