New faces, same focus for Utah State Volleyball

Utah State Volleyball’s 2025 campaign was historic. The team posted a 24-8 overall record and a 21-0 conference record on its way to both a regular season and conference tournament championship. The team won 22 straight matches during that stretch, the longest winning streak for the program since 1978 and the third longest in program history. 

The Aggies capped off their season by upsetting No. 7-seeded University of Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, before ultimately falling to No. 2-seeded Arizona State University in the Round of 32. 

The win over Tennessee sent Utah State to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001, putting the finishing touch on a season that established a new standard for the program. 

Shortly after their monumental season came to an end, the flood of departures began. The transfer portal opening brought the exit of many notable Aggies, including First-Team All-Mountain West hitters Loryn Helgesen and Mara Štiglic. Shortly after, former head coach Rob Neilson departed for Brigham Young University, his alma mater to the south. 

Just weeks after that new standard had been set, those who set it were gone. 

Utah State responded quickly, hiring new head coach Keith Smith within two weeks of Neilson’s departure. 

With Smith in the seat, the roster turnover began. The 2026 regular season began last week with 12 new players to go along with just three returners. Add that to an entirely new coaching staff, and the current squad is almost unrecognizable from the title team. 

“It was really hard,” senior setter Olivia Tukuafu, one of the three returners from last year, said in an interview with The Utah Statesman. “It was sad to see people go, to see the staff go, and to have such a remarkable [2025] season — it was really tough.” 

Despite so much change from a year ago, little is truly different in the eyes of the Aggies. 

“I don’t think anything changes,” Smith said. “Rob [Neilson] is passing the baton to me. It’s not starting over — we’re just more of a relay, trying to build a program that is one of the best in the country, regardless of the conference.” 

For Smith, part of that relay means leaving behind what was accomplished in the past and creating their own path and identity. The NCAA Tournament win in 2025 was important, but the Aggies have their focus on something bigger than just maintaining the new standard. 

“I am a big believer in setting goals of things that have never been done before,” Smith said. “Since we’ve been in the NCAA, we’ve never made a Sweet 16, so let’s go try to accomplish something that’s never been done here, and if we fail, I think we’re going to be doing some pretty good things still.” 

Raising the expectations for a program is never an easy task, but the Aggies think they see a path to getting there.  

“We’ve talked about it a lot as a team, and we really want to make it far in the tournament, and we’ve said that we want to be Sweet 16,” junior outside hitter Olivia Ruy said. “I think that if we really work hard and we really believe — and I think that’s one piece that we’re working on right now, the belief in the fact that we can do that — we can absolutely make it there.” 

One of the ways Smith hopes to elevate those expectations is relying on players who have already seen what a high-level program looks like. Ruy comes to Logan after spending three previous seasons at the Power Four level, spending two seasons at the University of Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference before transferring to the University of Maryland of the Big 10.  

During her 2023 redshirt season at Arkansas, the Razorbacks posted a 28-6 record and reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Ruy isn’t the only one with Power Four experience, as four of Utah State’s transfers came from a Power Four team, in addition to Smith, who previously served as an assistant at Texas Christian University. 

The top-level experience of Ruy and others isn’t only about bringing Power Four experience to USU but also leveraging that experience to accomplish its goals. 

“I kind of use that as fuel for myself … I know what I’m doing. I’ve seen it at a high level. I’ve played at a high level, and I can hang,” Ruy said. “I’ve seen a lot of great teams play, and I’ve seen us play at our best, and I think that we have the tools that we need to be right there with them. We can hang as a team.” 

STATESMAN FILE PHOTO

Olivia Tukuafu warms up prior to a match against University of Utah on Sept. 6 in the Wayne Estes Center.

For Smith and the Aggies, hanging with those high-level teams begins partially with finding a way to replace lost production, beginning most notably with 2025 Mountain West Player of the Year Kaylie Kofe. Kofe finished her sophomore season at USU averaging 11.08 assists per set, finishing the season with 1,330 assists before following Neilson to BYU in May. 

Smith’s replacement for Kofe, however, isn’t a replacement at all but leaning into the individuality of the setters already present in his team. 

“We don’t need our setters to try to be anything other than themselves, so that’s the main thing: go be yourself,” Smith said. “Don’t try to be Kaylie Kofe. Let’s be Olivia Tukuafu or let’s be Silina Damuni. … What I really want is people that want to be here in general, and when they’re here and they want to be here, let’s just go be the best version of ourselves.” 

Tukuafu spent the 2025 season behind Kofe and will play a big role in taking over her position on the court and her position as a leader in the locker room.

“I’m happy for her but I’m also happy for me in the time that I’m getting on the court and how this season’s going to go for me,” Tukuafu said. “She did great for us last year but I’m excited for this year. … I feel like she set me up for this year to be confident in myself to get the job done.” 

Regardless of who is on the court for Utah State, the broader expectation is a constant. For some, the expectation can be daunting. 

“We have an expectation to maintain what was built before and to really honor the people that came before us that way, but at the same time, it is a little intimidating,” Ruy said. “As long as we’re playing like ourselves and not trying to play like the last team and have those strengths and trying to really work into their system and really leaning into our own identity and our own system, we’re going to be great and we’re going to be able to fulfill that expectation.” 

Even with a new coaching staff, new roster, and new conference, the expectation inside the Wayne Estes Center remains the same. 

“It’s just to win and to dominate, and I don’t think it’s changed much,” Tukuafu said.