IRVING, Texas — BYU softball was picked to finished seventh by the league’s coaches in their inaugural season in the Big 12, the conference announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Reigning and back-to-back national champion Oklahoma was picked to win the Big 12 in its final season in the league, followed by Texas, Oklahoma State, Baylor, UCF and Texas Tech. The Cougars find themselves ahead of Kansas, Iowa State and Houston.

BYU was runner-up in both the West Coast Conference (WCC) and in the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) last year, and returns 17 players from the 2023 season. The Cougars also welcome four transfers, two with Power 5 experience, and four new freshman to their 2024 roster.

Kicking off its 2024 campaign in Hawai’i, BYU will open the season on Feb. 8 at the Paradise Classic. The Cougars will begin Big 12 play on March 7, concluding their conference slate on May 5. The Big 12 conference schedule features a three-game series against each of the nine other league opponents, totaling 27 Conference games.

Culminating its inaugural season in the league, BYU will participate in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City from May 8-11. All 10 teams will compete in the single-elimination format with the top six finishing regular season teams receiving a first-round bye.

Ava earned All-Big 12 honor

Huntyr Ava, who plays first base, was named to the Big 12 Preseason All-Conference Team, the league announced on Thursday afternoon.

Ava (Rosepark, Utah) returns for a fifth and final year in Provo, coming off a 2023 season in which she was named West Coast Conference (WCC) Player of the Year, to the All-WCC First Team and NFCA All-Region Third Team.

Ava led the team last season with a .746 slugging percentage, 50 RBI and 16 home runs. She also recorded the team’s second-best batting average (.328) and tallied 44 hits, 26 runs scored, 20 walks drawn and eight doubles, recording a .429 on-base percentage and .995 fielding percentage.

2024 Big 12 Softball Preseason Team

Shaylon Govan, Baylore, INF, Jr.

*Huntyr Ava, BYU, 1B, Sr.

Sarah Willis, UCF, P/OF, Sr.

Turiya Coleman, UH, IF/C, Jr.

Milaysia Ochoa, ISU, OF, Sr.

Rylie Boone, OU, OF, Sr.

Alyssa Brito, OU, UTL, Sr.

Jayda Coleman, OU, OF, Sr.

Kinzie Hansen, OU, C, Sr.

Tiare Jennings, OU, INF, Sr.

*Kelly Maxwell, OU, P, R-Sr.

Nicole May, OU, P, Sr.

Lexi Kilfoyl, OSU, P, Gr.

Citlaly Gutierrez, UT, P, So.

Ashton Maloney, UT, OF, R-So.

Viviana Martinez, UT, SS/2B, So.

Mac Morgan, UT, P, Jr.

Mia Scott, UT, IF, Jr.

*Kailey Wyckoff, TTU, C/OF, So.

*Indicates unanimous selection

A tie created an extra position on the team. Players are sorted alphabetically by school.

Hiapo, Bower make Atlanta Vibe roster

ATLANTA — BYU women’s volleyball alumni Kamaile Hiapo and Whitney Bower were named to the Atlanta Vibe’s start-of-season roster, the team announced on Thursday.

The Vibe invited 19 players to training camp this month before trimming the roster to 14 with two practice players for a total of 16 players. In conjunction with the roster announcement, the team held a joint in-person and virtual media day.

Atlanta is one of seven teams in the newly formed Pro Volleyball Federation, with the inaugural season set to begin on Wednesday, Jan. 24.

Hiapo spent the final year of her collegiate career in Provo, being named to the AVCA Southwest All-Region Team this past season after leading the Cougars with 277 digs. The libero was also second on the team with 162 assists and third with 31 service aces. Hiapo finished with double-digit digs in 22 of 32 matches.

Bower was also named to the AVCA Southwest All-Region Team to go along with All-Big 12 First Team as well as AVCA and VolleyballMag All-America Honorable Mention nods. She finished with a team-high 980 assists as she became BYU’s rally scoring era assists leader with 4,583 in her five-year career.

McEwan signs pro volleyball deal overseas

BYU women’s volleyball alum Whitney McEwan signed with the professional club SL Benfica in Lisbon, Portugal.

McEwan recently wrapped up her six-year career with the Cougars, leading the team in hitting percentage in 2023 with a .356 clip. The Bountiful, Utah product also had the second-most kills (225), blocks (120) and points (307.5) on the season.

A marriage, family and human development master’s graduate, McEwan earned AVCA All-Region honors for the first time in her career this past year, to go along with an All-Big 12 First Team nod as well.

She led the team in total blocks in 10 matches this season, was a dōTERRA Classic All-Tournament Team honoree and averaged 2.12 kills per set, 1.13 blocks per set and 2.9 points per set for the year.

McEwan concluded her time in Provo as a two-time all-conference first teamer and two-time conference defensive player of the week honoree.

She joins teammates Whitney Bower (2019-23) and Kamaile Hiapo (2023), as well as Heather Gneiting (2018-19, 2021-22), Roni Jones-Perry (2015-18), Alohi Robins-Hardy (2014-17), Alexa Gray (2012-15) and Tambre Haddock-Nobles (2013-14) as BYU women’s volleyball alumni in the professional ranks.

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