Utah State Volleyball Adds 12 Players, With Eight Utah Roots

Utah State has put a distinctly local stamp on its 2026 volleyball signing class. Head coach Keith Smith announced 12 additions on July 2: eight transfers and four freshmen, with eight players who have Utah hometown or high-school connections.

The list reaches from Cache Valley's new Pac-12 home to Orem, Provo, South Jordan, Herriman, Woods Cross, Highland and Salt Lake City. It also brings in experience from Utah Valley, BYU, New Mexico, West Virginia, Wyoming, Cal and Maryland. The official release calls it the program's full 2026 class; it is a concrete personnel update, not a projected depth chart.

Utah State volleyball's 2026 signing class has eight Utah connections

The Utah group starts with six transfers: Lauren Bodily of Woods Cross, Solia Angilau of South Jordan, Sami Blackett of Orem, Silina Damuni of Provo, Addy Cook of Herriman and Olivia Ruy of Salt Lake City. Freshmen Taytum Nelson of Orem and Madi Rich of Highland complete the eight Utah-linked additions.

Blackett arrives after two seasons at Utah Valley, where Utah State says she earned First Team All-WAC honors in both years. Her 771 kills, 461 digs and 131 blocks for the Wolverines are the biggest established production total named in the release, but they are previous-school numbers rather than a prediction for Logan.

Damuni gives the class another familiar Utah volleyball route. The Provo setter spent her freshman season at BYU in 2023 before a mission, and Utah State credits her with the Utah high-school career-assists record: 3,467 at Timpview. Nelson, a 6-foot-6 middle blocker, and Rich, an opposite/outside hitter, were announced with the earlier three-player November class.

The transfer group also brings Pac-12 experience to Logan

Smith's July announcement identified Sophie Scott, a 6-foot-4 middle blocker from Cal, among the incoming transfers. Utah State says Scott played 62 matches across four seasons in Berkeley and totaled 178 blocks and 199 kills in her Cal career.

Angilau comes from New Mexico after appearing in 20 matches with 10 starts in 2025, when the release lists 62 kills and 53 blocks. Cook played 29 of Wyoming's 30 matches as a freshman and recorded 221 kills, while Lily LaFlesch, another Wyoming transfer, totaled 275 digs in 109 sets. Those are the public résumés the Aggies announced.

The four freshmen are Ava (AC) Gibbs, Nelson, Rich and Justyna Novakova. Novakova joins from Jablonec Nad Nisou, Czech Republic, after the release says she played the previous two seasons for VK Selmy Brno. That mix makes the class broader than an in-state recruiting story, even as Utah provides two-thirds of the names.

Four additions widen the class beyond Utah

The remaining four players show how much prior experience Smith is adding around the Utah core. Scott comes from Cal, LaFlesch from Wyoming, Gibbs from The Woodlands, Texas, and Novakova from Czechia. Utah State's release lists Scott as a 6-foot-4 middle blocker and LaFlesch as a libero/defensive specialist; Gibbs was announced in November as a libero/defensive specialist, while Novakova is listed as an outside hitter.

Gibbs' high-school résumé is the most detailed of the freshmen outside Utah. The July announcement identifies 909 digs in her final season at The Woodlands High School, while the November release says she averaged 7.2 digs per set and recorded 66 aces and 167 assists that year. Those totals help explain the defensive profile the Aggies are adding, but they do not establish playing time in 2026.

Novakova's path is the class's international piece. Utah State says she helped VK Selmy Brno win the Czechia Extraliga and CzechCup in 2025-26, a season in which the club went 21-1; the same release lists 192 kills, 26 blocks and 23 aces for her.

How Utah State's first Pac-12 volleyball season opened

The new class did not have long to wait for a first test. Utah State's official nonconference schedule opened August 28 at No. 3 Kentucky in the Bluegrass Battle, a 3-0 loss, followed by a 3-1 loss to Eastern Kentucky on August 29 and a 3-0 loss to South Florida on August 30, as the schedule prints the results.

The first home date was September 9 against UCLA at Club Estes, a 3-0 loss. Utah State then played four consecutive in-state opponents: it lost 3-0 to Utah on September 11 in the Spectrum, lost in five sets at Weber State on September 15, beat Utah Valley 3-1 on September 17 for its first win of the season and lost 3-0 at No. 24 BYU on September 19. Pac-12 competition began September 24 at Texas State, a 3-0 loss; the Aggies won their first Pac-12 home match 3-1 over Gonzaga on September 26 and were 3-12 and 2-3 in the Pac-12 as of October 10, 2026.

Key facts:

• Class size: 12 players
• Breakdown: Eight transfers and four freshmen
• Utah connections: Eight additions with Utah hometown or high-school ties
• Previous-school production: Sami Blackett recorded 771 kills at Utah Valley across two seasons
• Season opener: August 28 at No. 3 Kentucky, a 3-0 loss
• First home match: September 9 vs. UCLA at Club Estes, a 3-0 loss
• Pac-12 opener: September 24 at Texas State, a 3-0 loss; 3-12 and 2-3 in the Pac-12 as of Oct. 10, 2026

*Update, Sept. 27, 2026: Utah State lost its first eight matches, starting with Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky and South Florida, before beating Utah Valley 3-1 on September 17, according to its schedule. It was 2-10 and 1-1 in the Pac-12 on September 26 after a 3-1 win over Gonzaga that its recap called the first-ever Pac-12 victory for any team at Utah State. Sami Blackett led the team with 144 kills through 12 matches, according to its cumulative statistics.*

*Update, Oct. 10, 2026: Utah State lost in five sets to Colorado State on October 3 and 3-1 to Boise State on October 8, leaving it 3-12 and 2-3 in the Pac-12 per its schedule. Olivia Ruy, who had a career-high 25 kills against Colorado State, was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week on October 6, per Utah State's release.*