Utah State spent eight matches looking for its first win. Then its offense arrived all at once.
The Aggies hit a season-best .308 and beat Utah Valley in four sets Thursday. No. 24 BYU answered the same night with a road sweep of Weber State and a new right-side option in Anna Blamires. Those results turn Saturday’s nonconference finale into something better than a ranked team waiting for an opponent with a losing record.
BYU hosts Utah State at 1 p.m. Mountain on ESPN+ at the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars are 7-1. Utah State is 1-8, but its latest box score is the one BYU needs to study.
BYU-Utah State watch information
| Match detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Match | No. 24 BYU vs. Utah State |
| Date | Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026 |
| First serve | 1 p.m. MDT |
| Venue | Smith Fieldhouse, Provo, Utah |
| Stream | ESPN+ direct event listing |
| Live stats | BYU StatBroadcast hub |
| Tickets | BYU women’s volleyball tickets |
| Radio | No official radio listing published |
| Permanent event page | BYU volleyball schedule |
BYU’s official event record lists 2026-09-19 at 19:00 UTC, which converts to 1 p.m. MDT on Saturday in Provo. The event is not marked TBA. BYU’s weekly preview and Utah State’s official preview both publish the same local start, and BYU supplies the direct ESPN+ and StatBroadcast links.
ESPN+ may require a subscription. Neither school lists a radio broadcast, so the stream and live stats are the verified remote options. The permanent schedule page will retain the event after Saturday’s links give way to a final.
Utah State’s first win changed the scouting report
A 1-8 record is not decorative, but it can hide movement inside a season.
Utah State lost its first eight matches while replacing every 2025 starter and its libero. The Aggies returned only 2.4 percent of last season’s points, according to their official preview. That is not a small rotation change. It is nearly a new team trying to learn each other against a schedule that included Kentucky, Iowa State, UCLA and Utah.
Thursday was the first night the pieces worked together for a full result. Utah State lost the opening set to Utah Valley 25-21, then won 25-19, 25-21, 25-18. The Aggies produced season highs in kills (61), hitting percentage (.308), assists (58), digs (74) and blocks (11).
Sami Blackett had 20 kills, 12 digs and five blocks. Addy Cook added a season-high 18 kills on .277 hitting. Olivia Ruy supplied 13 kills and four blocks. Those three pins combined for 51 of Utah State’s 61 kills.
That concentration tells BYU where the ball is likely to go. It does not make the job easy. Blackett, Cook and Ruy gave setter Silina Damuni three credible high-ball answers when the pass moved off the net. Damuni finished with 46 assists and a career-high 13 digs, while libero Lily LaFlesch reached 20 digs for the second straight match.
The season numbers still show the cost of Utah State’s rebuild. Through nine matches, the Aggies hit .177 while opponents hit .263. They averaged 11.64 kills and 1.76 blocks per set. Thursday’s .308 and 11-block performance was a break from that baseline, not yet a new baseline.
BYU’s job is to find out which version travels to Provo.
Kaylie Kofe is the reunion in the middle of the match
The most interesting transfer thread does not need manufactured drama.
BYU setter Kaylie Kofe played her first two college seasons at Utah State. The Aggies’ preview credits her with 1,330 assists last year, their single-season record in the 25-point rally-scoring era, plus Mountain West Player of the Year and honorable-mention All-America recognition. She now shares BYU’s offense with Alex Bower.
Damuni made the reverse trip. Utah State lists the sophomore setter as a transfer from BYU, and she has handled the larger share of the Aggies’ setting work. Through nine matches, Damuni had 235 assists and 86 digs. Her Thursday double-double was the fourth of her season.
The sideline has the same crossover. BYU head coach Rob Neilson won 112 matches in six seasons at Utah State, with five conference tournament titles and three NCAA Tournament appearances. BYU assistants Chloe Hirst, Torre Glasker and Kennedi Hansen also have Utah State ties.
None of that decides a rally. It does remove some mystery.
Kofe understands the habits of several former teammates and the shape of the Utah State program. Damuni has practiced against BYU personnel. Neilson knows the kind of serve pressure and transition offense his former program wants to build. Familiarity should make the first set cleaner tactically, even if the execution is not.
The setter comparison also points to a real difference. BYU can move between Kofe and Bower inside its two-setter system. Against Weber State, Kofe had 20 assists, Bower had 17 and Lulu Po’uha added five. The Cougars produced 46 kills with seven players recording at least one.
Utah State relied on Damuni for 46 of its 58 assists Thursday. If BYU’s serve pulls her into first contact or forces her away from the target, the Aggies have fewer easy ways to preserve the same rhythm.
Blamires gave BYU a second right-side answer
BYU’s 25-18, 25-16, 25-17 sweep at Weber State was not built on block dominance. The Wildcats won that category 9-7. BYU won because it found 46 kills on .365 hitting and kept several attack lanes alive.
Blamires was the surprise. She posted a career-high 12 kills with two errors on 19 swings, a .526 percentage. Elli Mortensen added 10 kills on 13 attempts. Kelli Jo Burgess returned after missing the Utah Valley match and recorded six kills without an error plus seven block assists.
The full Weber State recap explains why Blamires’ line matters. Sophia Callahan had four kills and five errors, but one rough opposite line did not collapse the position because Blamires carried real volume from the same side.
Utah State’s 11 blocks against Utah Valley make that depth timely. Sophie Scott finished with seven blocks, Blackett had five, and Ava Napierski and Ruy had four each. The Aggies can put useful hands in front of BYU’s pins when the set becomes predictable.
The Cougars’ best answer is the one they used in Ogden: refuse to become predictable. Burgess, Mortensen, Blamires, Claire Little Chambers and Rachel Jepsen all had at least four kills against Weber State. If Kofe and Bower can preserve that spread, Utah State’s blockers have to read instead of camp.
That starts with the pass. An in-system BYU first contact keeps Burgess and Jepsen available in the middle and delays the outside block. A pass chased toward the sideline removes the quick attack and lets Utah State load up on the pins.
The serve can make this much messier than the records suggest
Both teams paid for aggressive serving Thursday.
BYU had five aces and nine service errors at Weber State. Utah State had seven aces and 13 errors against Utah Valley. The Aggies also allowed five aces. There will be pressure from the end line, but neither team has earned permission to call that pressure clean.
Utah State’s season totals sharpen the risk. Blackett leads the Aggies with 12 aces, while LaFlesch has seven. Blackett also has 13 reception errors, the highest total on the team. She is central to both the damage Utah State can create and the pressure BYU can send back.
BYU should make her work before she gets to swing. A serve that forces Blackett into a difficult first contact can reduce the speed and options of Utah State’s next attack. It also asks a 20-kill hitter to carry another part of the rally.
The Cougars do not need an ace chase. Weber State finished without one against BYU, and the Cougars still passed well enough to give their setters 44 assists on 46 kills. Repeating that stability matters more than matching Utah State’s ace total.
Saturday’s quickest warning sign would be a cluster of BYU errors that lets the Aggies settle. Utah State played from behind after dropping the first set Thursday, then found enough confidence to close three straight. A team rebuilding almost its entire lineup should not receive free runway into its best rotation.
What Saturday can prove before Big 12 play
BYU begins conference play against No. 18 Baylor next Friday. Utah State leaves Provo for its first Pac-12 match at Texas State on Thursday.
That makes Saturday a final test rather than a routine bridge. BYU has learned something different in each match this week. The Utah Valley sweep showed that Brooke Hardy and Jepsen could cover missing middles. Weber State showed that Burgess could return without shrinking the rotation and that Blamires could rescue the right side.
Utah State asks whether those answers can survive a team coming off its best offensive and blocking night.
Three checkpoints should tell the story early:
- Can BYU keep its middle attack available when Utah State serves aggressively?
- Can the Cougars make Blackett pass enough balls to reduce her clean swings?
- Can Blamires and Callahan give BYU efficient right-side points against an 11-block front?
If the answers are yes, BYU’s depth should separate the teams over three or four sets. If the pass breaks and Blackett receives too many comfortable transition swings, the Aggies have enough fresh evidence to make the afternoon longer.
The all-time series is not a useful shortcut here. BYU and Utah State’s official previews publish conflicting meeting counts and records, so this article does not pretend one version is settled. Saturday will be decided by the current rotations anyway.
The BYU volleyball hub carries the roster and season pages, while the results page will keep the final after ESPN+ signs off. The ranking says BYU should control this match. Thursday says Utah State has finally found a version worth taking seriously.
Sources and further reading
- BYU Athletics: official event record 25281 for the stable schedule ID, UTC start, Smith Fieldhouse venue, home designation and scheduled status.
- BYU Athletics: in-state week preview for the direct ESPN+ and StatBroadcast listings, 1 p.m. Mountain start, preweek BYU statistics, opponent context and Baylor follow-up.
- BYU Athletics: Weber State sweep, finalized WMT team statistics and WMT player statistics for BYU’s 3-0 final, 25-18/25-16/25-17 set scores, .365 hitting percentage, block and serve totals, setter distribution and individual lines.
- Utah State Athletics: in-state week preview for independent time confirmation, roster turnover, Kofe and coaching connections, and Utah State’s next event.
- Utah State Athletics: first win over Utah Valley for the 3-1 final, set scores, 1-8 record, season-high team totals and standout player lines.
- Utah State Athletics: 2026 cumulative statistics for the nine-match hitting, serving, blocking, reception and player totals used above.
- Utah State University Brand Toolkit: official colors for Aggie Blue
#0F2439, gray#A2AAAD, white and black used in the original matchup art. - BYU Sport Nuts: volleyball schedule, volleyball roster, Weber State recap and Utah Valley recap.
