The lights in the Burns Arena are shining once again as the season opens for the Utah Tech women’s volleyball team, who are looking to claim their first Western Athletic Conference title.
This season marks their WAC farewell tour as they and other teams at UT prepare to move to the Big Sky Conference in 2026.
In 2024, the team went 15-12 and landed in fourth place in the WAC standings, with their season ending on a five-game losing streak that was capped by a 0-3 loss to California Baptist University in the first game of the WAC tournament.
Despite the slide, the team entered the offseason with their heads high and won their three spring scrimmages against Brigham Young University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Southern Utah University.
With August officially here, the team can focus on their goals for this season.
“I feel like our big focus is just to become immortal,” team captain Kennedi Knudsen, a senior graphic design major from Gunnison, said. “We want to be the first program to make an impact on the school, and we are really trying to prove something here. We have a really good shot at [winning] the WAC.”
Knudsen spoke personally about how important it is to her to leave something at UT and be remembered during her final season on the team.
This year, the team has 14 players returning from the 2024 season, which head coach Camilla Hafoka said will help bring the momentum of last year’s success into this one.
“We carried [the momentum] into the spring and implemented new things instead of being remedial and going backwards, because they all understood our system,” Hafoka said.
She is entering her fifth season and not only has her sights fixed on the title, but on the National Collegiate Athletic Association volleyball tournament in December.
“It’s a goal,” she said. “It’s not an easy goal. So [the team] understands there’s a lot of work that needs to be put into it, even with all the returners. That’s what our focus is. Just take it one day at a time.”
Part of that included creating strong connections and friendships, which has helped everyone improve and hold one another accountable.
“A big focus was connecting on and off the court,” said setter Tehanie Waters, a freshman general studies major from St. George. “We’re all best friends, and it helps so much when you’re on the court playing.”
Waters has been with the team since the spring and said those connections with her new teammates have helped her feel welcome as she’s made the adjustment from high school to college volleyball.
They kick off the season Aug. 29 at a tournament in Las Vegas against California State University, Bakersfield, and they’ll return to St. George for their first home game against Weber State University Sept. 4.
