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

PROVO — 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."

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 — to see family, friends or just run routine errands — 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 — and the gospel being implemented in so much of our lives — 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's off to a strong start at BYU, too.

Kofe came off the bench Friday to dish out a team-high 21 assists with six digs in an 8-25, 19-25, 25-12, 25-20, 15-11 reverse-sweep over Florida State, helping feed an attack led by Claire Little Chambers' 12 kills, nine digs, six blocks and three aces to the come-from-behind win.

She split time with Alex Bower again a day later in the Cougars' 6-2, dishing out 24 assists with six digs as Ellie Mortensen went for 14 kills, nine kills and four aces in a 25-17, 23-25, 25-15, 25-21 win over Florida Gulf Coast to improve to 2-0.

"Kaylie loves working hard, loves competing, and she's tenacious," Neilson said. "She flies around the gym, and she's fearless.

"She's played in a lot of big moments, and she's going to fit right in to what we're doing."

Perhaps the biggest problem, if you can call it that — at last from a volleyball perspective: The Cougars already had a setter, the Nampa, Idaho-born, All-Big 12 first-team selection in Bower who tallied her second consecutive 1,000-assist season with a league-high 1,217 dimes and seven double-doubles in 2025.

Bower briefly entered the transfer portal in December, but quickly reversed course after BYU hired Neilson and returned to the school where her dad Danny played basketball and mom Caroline and older sisters Morgan, Whitney and Eden all started the volleyball careers.

Could two standout setters co-exist on the same team? And would they even want to?

"I love training with her," she quickly said. "She pushes me to be better every day, I try to push her, and it's very fun to compete in a friendly way. We'll always cheer on each other — but we're not afraid to one-up and compete. But I love setting with her; she makes me so much better."

Two natives of the Gem State pushing each other at a top college program in Utah, though? There must be something to that.

"Idaho girls just do it right," said Kofe, whose Bonneville High faced Bower's Skyview in a state tournament game her senior year. "Me and Alex are representing."

BYU continues its two-match season-opening road trip in Fort Myers, Florida, Saturday against Florida Gulf Coast (3 p.m. MT, ESPN+). The Cougars' home opener is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 3 against Eastern Illinois (6:30 p.m. MT, ESPN+).

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