Utah Valley volleyball came into 2026 as the defending WAC champion and left the WAC behind. On July 1 the university became a full member of the Big West Conference, and this fall is the program's first season against Cal Poly, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara and the rest of a league that has long been one of the strongest in the West for volleyball.
The first half of that season has been hard, and this article will not pretend otherwise. But the record does not tell the whole story, and there are good reasons to think the move will be the best thing that has happened to this program.
The record, honestly
| Record | 4-14 overall, 2-4 Big West (through October 10) |
| Preseason pick | 4th of 12 in the Big West coaches' poll, with one first-place vote |
| Big West wins | UC Riverside 3-0, California Baptist 3-2 |
| Five-set matches | 3-0 |
| Next | Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton at Lockhart Arena, October 15 and 17 |
The 14 losses came mostly from a nonconference schedule built to prepare a team for a tougher league: Utah Tech, Utah and Oregon State at the season-opening Utah Valley Invitational, then South Dakota, Northern Iowa and Air Force on the road, Drake, BYU, Utah State and Weber State. The Wolverines won two five-set matches at the Kansas City Klassic, against Kansas City and Radford, and went 2-10 before conference play.
The Big West debut
Then came the part of the season that counts most, and it started well.
September 24: UC Riverside, 3-0. UVU's first Big West match was also its first sweep of the season, 27-25, 25-16, 25-20 at Lockhart Arena. Sophomore Miley Thunstrom had a career-high 17 kills and freshman Bree Carson added a career-high 13, and the Wolverines held Riverside to .152 hitting. It was the third time UVU has won its first match in a new conference, after the Great West and the WAC.
September 26: California Baptist, 3-2. Two sets down at home, UVU won the next three 25-19, 25-16 and 15-6, with an 11-1 run in the fifth set. Senior setter Evalyn Medaris had a career-high eight blocks to go with 34 assists, freshman Chloe Hansen came off the bench for a career-best eight kills and three aces, and Thunstrom tied her career high with 17 kills. That made UVU 2-0 in the Big West.
The next four. UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly, the teams picked third and first in the league, both swept UVU at Lockhart on October 1 and 3. Cal Poly is the defending Big West champion that beat BYU in the NCAA Tournament last December. The Wolverines then lost at UC Irvine and at UC San Diego on their first Big West road trip, and UC San Diego came into that match leading the Big West in kills.
That is the honest picture: a team that can beat the middle of the league and has not yet beaten the top of it, with 12 conference matches left to change that.
Why the future looks bright
The roster is young, and the young players are producing. Half of UVU's 16 players are freshmen or sophomores. The team's leading attacker in both Big West wins, Thunstrom, is a sophomore. Carson and Hansen, two of the three freshmen, have already had career nights in conference play, and freshman London Armstrong made her debut with a kill against Riverside. A team that is learning a new league with this many underclassmen in the lineup will know that league much better next fall.
The program knows how to climb. UVU has done this before. It moved from junior college to Division I, won independent titles in 2005 and 2007, won the Great West in 2011 and 2012, and then needed a few years in the WAC before it won the 2021 WAC Tournament, took the 2025 WAC regular-season title, and won the 2025 WAC Tournament. Each step up started with a learning year.
The conference is a better home. The Big West brings regular matches against programs like Cal Poly, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara, stronger opponents in Orem on ordinary weeknights, and a schedule built around California, one of the deepest recruiting grounds in the sport. UVU joins as the league's largest university, with more than 46,800 students, and the first Big West member in Utah since Utah State left in 2005. That matters for recruiting, and it matters for how good the matches at Lockhart Arena will be.
The coaches picked them fourth. Before a single Big West match, the league's coaches ranked UVU fourth of 12, and one coach voted the Wolverines first. People who scout this conference for a living expected UVU to compete, and the results against Riverside and Cal Baptist show why.
The coach: Sam Atoa
Sam Atoa is in his 28th season as UVU's head coach, after six years as an assistant under former coach Lori Richards. He has won more than 500 matches; his 500th came in 2024, in a sweep of Washington State in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
His record is the story of the program:
- Junior college: third at the national tournament in 2000, and a junior college national coach of the year award.
- Division I independent: independent championships and coach of the year honors in 2005 and 2007.
- Great West: regular-season titles in 2011 and 2012, the 2012 tournament title, and coach of the year both years.
- WAC: coach of the year in 2016, the program's first Division I postseason trip in 2018, WAC Tournament titles in 2021 and 2025, the program's first WAC regular-season title in 2025, and NCAA Tournament trips in 2021 and 2025.
The way Atoa builds his teams is a big part of why the program has lasted. His players have won more than 100 academic all-conference awards, and his teams have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award seven times. He has taken his teams on humanitarian trips to Samoa and New Zealand in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018, collecting and delivering supplies after tsunamis. He was given the Samoan title of Papalii by the late Head of State of Samoa, Malietoa Tanumafili II. And his players have kept winning conference honors in every league UVU has played in: four Players of the Year, four WAC Freshmen of the Year, and dozens of all-conference picks.
Atoa played at BYU from 1984 to 1988 and helped Carl McGown when BYU's program became an NCAA sport in 1989, before he came to Orem in 1990. His staff this season includes associate head coach Andrew Richards and assistants Scott Lee and Kent Nitta.
The players to watch
Evalyn Medaris, setter, senior. The 2025 WAC Setter of the Year runs the offense and had the eight-block night against Cal Baptist.
Lani Toutai, libero, senior. A second-team All-WAC pick last season who is climbing UVU's record book. She had 20 digs against Riverside and served three straight aces against Cal Poly.
Miley Thunstrom, outside hitter, sophomore. A transfer from Saint Mary's who has twice hit her career high of 17 kills in Big West play.
Alyvia Watkins, middle blocker, junior. She finished 14th in the nation in blocks per set last season, and had seven kills and seven blocks against UC Santa Barbara.
Olivia Gloeckner, right side, junior. She had 110 kills and 77 blocks last season and led UVU with 10 kills against Santa Barbara.
Brielle Rueckert, middle blocker, senior. A transfer from Weber State who arrived with 267 career blocks and 386 kills.
The newcomers. Freshmen Bree Carson, Chloe Hansen and London Armstrong, and two transfers from Salt Lake Community College, Myka Christensen and Kambri Kuhni. Kuhni is from Orem.
How the 2025 team got here
Last season was the best in program history in the WAC. UVU won the conference regular season for the first time, clinching it in a five-set win at Abilene Christian, then beat Utah Tech 3-2 in the WAC Tournament final in Abilene, Texas. That earned the program's third NCAA Tournament berth. The Wolverines drew No. 2 Stanford at Maples Pavilion and took the opening set before Stanford came back. Several key players from that team, including setter Medaris, libero Toutai, Watkins and Gloeckner, are on this year's roster.
What is left: the rest of the 2026 schedule
| Date | Opponent | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Thu., Oct. 15 | Long Beach State | Lockhart Arena, 6 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Cal State Fullerton | Lockhart Arena, 1 p.m. |
| Thu., Oct. 22 | at Sacramento State | The Nest, 8 p.m. MT |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Sacramento State | Lockhart Arena, 1 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | at California Baptist | Van Dyne Gym, 7 p.m. MT |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | at UC Riverside | SRC Arena, 2 p.m. MT |
| Thu., Nov. 5 | UC San Diego | Lockhart Arena, 6 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | UC Irvine | Lockhart Arena, 1 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | at Cal Poly | Mott Athletic Center, 7 p.m. MT |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | at UC Santa Barbara | Thunderdome, 7 p.m. MT |
| Thu., Nov. 19 | at CSU Bakersfield | Icardo Center, noon MT |
| Fri., Nov. 20 | at CSUN | Premier America Credit Union Arena, 8 p.m. MT |
| Nov. 25-28 | Big West Championship | Mott Athletic Center, San Luis Obispo |
All times are Mountain Time as UVU lists them. Check UVU's schedule before you go.
The next two weekends are the chance to turn the season. Long Beach State was picked second in the league, Cal State Fullerton 11th, and Sacramento State fifth, and four of those five matches are at home. The return matches against Cal Baptist and Riverside, the two teams UVU has already beaten, come on the road on Halloween weekend.
Going to a match at Lockhart Arena
Lockhart Arena is the smaller gym next to the UCCU Center on UVU's Orem campus, and that is part of what makes it fun: you are close to the court wherever you sit.
Tickets. UVU priced 2026 single-match tickets from $8 for value seats and $20 for preferred seats, and season packages for all 13 home matches from $64 (value) and $158 (preferred). That makes it one of the cheapest Division I nights out in the valley.
Students. UVU students get free tickets but have to reserve them in advance; showing up with an ID is not the system. Our UVU game-day guide explains how to reserve them and how The Den student section works.
Parking. UVU does not require permits in regular student and employee lots after 5 p.m. on weekdays or at any time on weekends, which covers every home match left on the schedule. The game-day guide has the details, and UVX stops on campus if you are coming from Provo.
Before and after. The best restaurants in Orem are a few minutes away, and University Place is close for a bigger night out. New to campus? Start with our UVU guide.
The bottom line
The first half of UVU's first Big West season has been a step up in competition, and the record shows it. It also shows a team that won its first two league matches, has not lost a five-setter, and is getting its best attacking from a sophomore and two freshmen. Under a coach who has moved this program up a level four times already, in a program my own daughter was interested in playing for at one point, this is what year one is supposed to look like. The matches at Lockhart over the next two weeks are a good time to see it for yourself.
For the other side of the valley, see our look at BYU volleyball's 2026 season under Rob Neilson. UVU women's soccer is having the best first Big West season of any Wolverine team so far; see UVU women's soccer 2026. For UVU's biggest sport, see UVU men's basketball's first Big West season. For how the two schools compare beyond sports, see BYU vs. UVU.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources
The facts in this guide were checked against these sources. Hours, fees and rules change, so confirm anything time-sensitive with the source before you go. How we make Provo.com.
- Utah Valley Women's Volleyball 2026 Schedule, Utah Valley University Athletics. Checked October 13, 2026.
- Utah Valley Women's Volleyball 2026 Roster, Utah Valley University Athletics. Checked October 13, 2026.
- Sam Atoa, Head Coach, Volleyball, Utah Valley University Athletics. Checked October 13, 2026.
- Wolverines receive first-place vote, picked fourth in Big West poll, Utah Valley University Athletics. Checked October 13, 2026.
- Utah Valley opens 2026 season by hosting Utah Valley Invitational, Utah Valley University Athletics. Checked October 13, 2026.
- Utah Valley volleyball single-game tickets now on sale for 2026 season, Utah Valley University Athletics. Checked October 13, 2026.
- Wolverines unable to slow UC San Diego attack in 3-0 loss, Utah Valley University Athletics. Checked October 13, 2026.
- Utah Valley set to face No. 2 Stanford in NCAA Tournament, Utah Valley University Athletics. Checked October 13, 2026.
- UVU women's volleyball sweeps UC Riverside, Daily Herald. Checked October 13, 2026.
- UVU notebook: Wolverines down Cal Baptist to complete reverse sweep, Daily Herald. Checked October 13, 2026.
- On the move: Utah Valley joins Big West Conference, Daily Herald. Checked October 13, 2026.
- UVU roundup: Women's volleyball earns WAC tournament title, NCAA berth, Daily Herald. Checked October 13, 2026.
- 4 Utah women's volleyball teams are in the NCAA Tournament, KSL. Checked October 13, 2026.
