2 All-American setters from Idaho serve up BYU volleyball's 2-0 start

PROVO \u2014 One of the hardest things Kaylie Kofe had to do in her volleyball career came last April, when the 5-foot-8 setter was out of season after winning Mountain West player of the year, all-region and All-America honors at Utah State.But on April 30, Kofe opened her phone, looked at a graphic she had made, and posted an emotional goodbye to Logan on Instagram, a place that felt like home for the Idaho Falls native after two seasons away.But her former head coach Rob Neilson had just accepted the same job at his alma mater in Provo, and assistant coaches Chloe Hirst and Torre Glasker were both in the process of following him to BYU.A week later, Kofe made her own announcement: the AVCA All-West region player and AVCA All-America honorable mention was joining those coaches, and would soon call the Smith Fieldhouse home."I loved Logan, and I still love Logan. Utah State was so good to me for two years," she said. "It was a hard decision to leave that. But I knew that I needed something different." BOOM! pic.twitter.com/6Dbc3CULPR— BYU Women's Volleyball (@BYUwvolleyball) August 28, 2026 BYU volleyball was never far from Kofe's upbringing in Idaho Falls. Her parents Benney and Trisha both competed collegiately at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) from 1999-2000, and every time the family would visit Utah \u2014 to see family, friends or just run routine errands \u2014 Kofe would ask if there was a volleyball game, and they could go to the Smith Fieldhouse for a CougarTail and her favorite sport."Rob reached out to me in the transfer portal, and I loved the coaching staff with my whole heart so I had to give it a look," said Kofe, who tallied 1,330 assists for Utah State in 2025, the fifth-most in a single season in program history."BYU was a program that I've grown up watching, going to games, and being in an environment like this and a community where everyone is so welcoming and loving \u2014 and the gospel being implemented in so much of our lives \u2014 really drew me here. This school is so unlike any other, and being a part of this culture was a huge draw for me."Kofe had a good thing going in Logan under Neilson, a former national championship-winning player and coach for the Cougars. The duo helped make history at Utah State, leading the Aggies to an undefeated season in conference play a year ago and an upset win over seventh-seeded Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament that was Utah State's first postseason victory since 2001.She'