No. 24 Cougars reverse sweep Seminoles to open 2026 season

FORT MYERS, Fla. — After trailing 2-0 on opening day, No. 24 BYU women’s volleyball came back to beat Florida State in five sets (8-25, 19-25, 25-12, 25-20, 15-20) at Alico Arena on Friday afternoon.

BOX SCORE

The Cougars (1-0, 0-0 Big 12) had seven different players with a kill, backed by Claire Little Chambers, who finished a dig shy of a double-double (12 kills and nine digs) to go along with a career-high six blocks.

Dimitra Nanou (nine kills), Sophia Callahan (nine kills), Kate Prior (eight kills), Brooke Hardy (eight kills) and Kelli Jo Burgess (four kills) supplemented Little Chambers offensively.

Setters Kaylie Kofe and Alex Bower finished with 21 and 20 assists, respectively, while libero Lulu Po’uha recorded a match-high 11 digs. Burgess joined Po’uha with a match high of her own, tallying eight blocks.

BYU recovered from a slow first two sets to out-hit FSU for the match, .238 to .217. Despite losing the ace battle (10-7), the Cougars out-blocked the Seminoles by the same margin, 10-7.

Set 1
Florida State ran away with the first set, utilizing runs of eight and seven straight to lead 9-1 and 17-3 shortly after the technical timeout. The Seminoles recorded six aces and hit .737 in the set while holding the Cougars to a .105 clip.

Set 2
After FSU opened up a 6-1 lead, BYU used 4-0 and 3-0 runs to even the set at eight, fueled by a pair of Little Chambers-Burgess double blocks.

Battling from there, Florida State took a 15-13 advantage into the technical timeout. Kills by Little Chambers, Nanou and Hardy kept the Cougars in it, but the Seminoles would take the second set, 25-19.

Set 3
Little Chambers and Callahan paced BYU to an 8-5 lead early, which the Cougars maintained on another Little Chambers-Burgess double block and kills by the pair, forcing FSU’s first timeout of the match, at 13-8.

A pair of Little Chambers aces helped the Cougars reel off six straight, spanning both the technical timeout and FSU’s second timeout. BYU closed the set on a 4-0 run, with kills and a double block by Nanou and Hardy to take the third, 25-12.

Set 4
The Cougars took a 3-0 lead on a Prior-Burgess double block, Prior kill and Hardy ace, but found themselves trailing 8-7 after a 4-0 Florida State run.

Responding, BYU took a 15-9 lead into the media timeout amidst a 5-0 run and 8-1 span that featured another Hardy ace, kills from both Hardy and Little Chambers and a double block by the duo.

Kills by Prior, Callahan and Nanou then forced the Seminoles’ second timeout leading 18-12. FSU made it 21-19 on a trio of Cougar errors, but a Prior kill and Hardy’s third ace of the afternoon forced a decisive fifth set, 25-20.

Set 5
A solo 3-0 run by Little Chambers to start the fifth paved way for a Callahan-Nanou 3-0 run of kills, forcing a Florida State timeout with BYU leading 6-2. The Cougars forced the Seminoles’ second timeout after another Nanou kill, at 9-5.

Nanou, Little Chambers and Hardy pushed BYU to the finish from there, with the Cougars sealing the reverse sweep of a final Little Chambers-Burgess double block, 15-11.

Up Next
BYU will wrap up the FGCU Invitational on Saturday, August. 29 at 5 p.m. ET against host Florida Gulf Coast on ESPN+.