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BYU women’s volleyball introduces 4 new signees joining for the 2026 season

BYU women's volleyball coachHeather Olmstead announced Friday the signings of four athletes that will join the team for the 2026 season.

The class includes Kylie Buttars, Laren Duncan, Brooke Hardy and Rachel Jepsen.

Kylie Buttars is a 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Lehi and played at Skyridge High School. Buttars is on the 2025 AVCA All-America Third Team and All-Region Team. She was also named the 2025 Deseret News 6A player of the year.

Buttars also played for the Club V Team, which is top 5 in the nation in the open division in 2025.

In 2025, she found herself as Skyridge’s all-time kills leader 2025 and the single-season kills and ace leader in 2024.

Lauren Duncan is a 5-foot-9 setter from Brentwood, Tenn., and played at Brentwood High School. Duncan was also named to the 2025 AVCA All-Region Team. She was also named as the Capital Hill Best Setter and TVBCA All-Star in 2025.

Duncan earned the title of MaxPreps #1 in Tennessee and #7 nationally in 2024.

In 2023 and 2024, Duncan was on the TSSAA Top Volleyball Player watch list.

Brooke Hardy is a 6-foot middle blocker from Fruitland, Idaho, and played at Fruitland High School. Hardy is the three-time Idaho state volleyball player of the year from 2022-2024. Recently, Hardy claimed her second state title, with her first one being from 2023.

Hardy is also a three-time SRV conference player of the year in 2022 and 2024-2025.

Rachel Jepsen is a 6-foot-4 middle blocker from Holladay and played at Olympus High School. Jepsen is a redshirt sophomore transfer from Pitt who recently returned from an 18-month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paris, France.

Jepsen played for two seasons before leaving on her mission in 2023.

During her 2023 season at Pitt, Jepsen had 33 kills and a .429 hitting percentage in 22 sets. Jeppesen was a part of the NCAA final four team at Pitt in both 2022 and 2023.

Like Buttars, Jepsen was also a member of Club V Volleyball from 2020-2021.