Kelli Jo
Burgess

A Lehi middle blocker setting a BYU record

Burgess wears No. 17 for BYU, whose roster lists her as a 6-foot-2 senior middle blocker from Lehi who came to Provo from Oklahoma. Her BYU biography traces a decorated path: a three-time state champion at Lone Peak High School and the 2021 Deseret News 6A Player of the Year, the 2022 AVCA Pacific South Region Freshman of the Year at Utah, and an All-SEC Second Team pick at Oklahoma in 2025, when she hit .411.

By October 6 she led the Big 12 in total blocks and blocks per set, per the conference. The conference named her Defensive Player of the Week on September 15, September 22 and October 6, and its October 6 release called the third award the most by a single Cougar in program history. That week she had 15 blocks, including a match-high 10 at Kansas State. The Big 12 put her on its weekly Starting Seven again on October 13 after she averaged 2.33 blocks per set in sweeps of Houston and West Virginia.

What the official record shows

BYU's overall statistics, as of October 16 after 15 matches, list Burgess, who has played in 14, with 99 total blocks (3 solo, 96 assisted), 1.94 per set and well clear of anyone else on the team, plus 65 kills on .397 hitting. She had a match-high seven blocks in BYU's sweep at Utah on October 15. Follow the Cougars on the BYU volleyball team page.