Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — For BYU women's volleyball, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Every high-profile departure to graduation or transfer has been met with success in 10 seasons under head coach Heather Olmstead, and the Cougars will hope to continue the trend as they open the 2024 season Friday and Saturday hosting the doTERRA Classic at the Smith Fieldhouse.
The Cougars return 11 players from last year's roster — including opposite Kate Prior and middle blocker Mia Lee, who were both all-Big 12 preseason picks — but will have a lot of minutes to replace with the departure of All-American outside hitter Erin Livingston.
Enter rising sophomore Claire Little, the 6-foot-3 former AAU All-American in 2022 who averaged 1.442 kills per set in 17 matches of an injury-shortened freshman campaign but has returned to the team fully healthy after the spring and preseason.
"I'm so ready to go," Little told KSL.com. "I'm pretty hungry to play. I'm just excited to be back in the Smith Fieldhouse, where the community is, the energy, the hyped volleyball. I just can't wait to compete with my friends. I built some really good connections with these girls, and I can't wait for the world to see it."
Little spent the better part of her freshman year finding herself, learning to be a complete-rotation player and finding herself on defense in addition to her role at the pin. She totaled 50 digs on the year, an average of 0.962 digs per set with 19 blocks en route to 85.5 points.
But she admits a lot of the first season in Provo for the Winchester, California, product was spent learning from her older teammates like Livingston, senior setter Whitney Bower, libero Kamaile Hiapo and graduate middle blocker Whitney McEwan-Llarenas — all of whom are playing professionally in the United States or overseas.
"If you know anything about me, you know that I love to learn," Little said. "Everything I was doing, I was learning. I was watching someone, I was learning. Everything I did was learning, but it was very hard for me. I've never had an injury that long before, and one of the biggest things I learned was not taking advantage of what you have.
"I learned how to watch players at this level, and learn from them. It was awesome having Erin or Whitney on the team, big hitters who I could learn their movements and try to recreate that. It challenged me every day; I lived for it."
With a clean bill of health, Little will likely be counted on to step into a new role for BYU — perhaps as early as Friday's season opener against Southeastern Louisiana (12 p.m. MDT, ESPN+) as part of a twinbill that includes Fairfield (7 p.m. MDT, ESPN+).
The Cougars will wrap up the four-team invitational Saturday against High Point (7 p.m. MDT, ESPN+), the third team that won its conference a year ago of the round-robin tournament.
But before the weekend is over, Olmstead hopes to have more answers for a BYU squad that has spent 168 consecutive weeks ranked in the AVCA national coaches' poll, including 159 straight weeks in the top 18 dating back to the 2013 season.
With that history, it's no wonder BYU was picked to finish second in the Big 12 for the second consecutive season.
"I think everyone's got a brand-new slate this fall and we're just going to see what everyone can do," Olmstead said. "Until we start playing and start performing, I think we'll know more what our team's about. We're just looking forward to playing another opponent, where we match up, and where our strengths and weaknesses are. It's been great, though; we've had a great preseason ... and the whole team is ready, in each of their own ways."
Part of that preseason including facing Southern Utah in an exhibition match with a unique twist: hosted by Millard High School, halfway between Provo and Cedar City in Fillmore.
"They did a great job hosting us, and it was a really fun environment," Olmstead said. "And we learned a little bit about our team, which will be good as we head into this weekend.
"There will be a lot of opportunities for players to fill roles," she added, "and we need everyone on the team to be a part of what we're doing. That's going to take the whole team to step up. We'll see as the season goes along who steps into those roles, who guides and leads this team."
