Hifo steps into new role as girls volleyball coach at Skyridge
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- Skyridge girls volleyball coach Tayler Hifo, right, gives instruction to junior Anzlee Holt in a match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Sophomore Lucy Meck of Skyridge (38) leads her team in celebrating a point in a high school girls volleyball match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Senior Kylie Buttars of Skyridge (10) serves the ball in a girls high school volleyball match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Sophomore Sienna Kuresa of Skyridge (50) takes a swing in a girls high school volleyball match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Skyridge girls volleyball coach Tayler Hifo leads a time out during a match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Senior Kylie Buttars of Skyridge (10) takes a swing against Bingham in a high school girls volleyball match on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Junior Emma White of Skyridge (in orange) tips the ball against Bingham in a girls high school volleyball match on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Players on the Skyridge bench react to an ace serve in a match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Senior Lily Grant of Skyridge sets the ball during a high school girls volleyball match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Senior Lily Grant of Skyridge serves against Bingham in a high school girls volleyball match on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- The Skyridge girls volleyball team celebrates a point in a match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Senior Lily Grant of Skyridge sets the ball during a high school girls volleyball match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Skyridge girls volleyball coach Tayler Hifo, left, gives instructions to junior Estelle Slaney in a high school girls volleyball match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Skyridge girls volleyball coach Tayler Hifo, right, and assistant coaches Sidney Martindale (left) and Cyrus Fa’alogo prepare for a match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
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- Sophomores Lucy Meck (38) and Sienna Kuresa prepare to run through a tunnel of their teammates before the start of a girls high school volleyball match against Bingham on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
Tayler Hifo — in her first season as head girls volleyball coach at Skyridge — finds herself saying the same things in practice and in games she used to hear from Heather Olmstead at BYU.
Hifo could do much worse that trying to emulate Olmstead, the NCAA leader in career win percentage.
“The thing about Heather is she’s really great with the details,” Hifo said. “One thing she always said was there are no little details. It’s about making sure we’re doing all the small things because they matter and I want to implement that into my program.”
Hifo played four seasons for Olmstead, backing up two of the Cougars all-time best setters in Lyndie Haddock-Eppich and Whitney Bower. Hifo carved out a role as a designated server and totaled 62 aces while in Provo. The American Fork High School graduate (then known as Tayler Tausinga) married Cougar football player Aleva Hifo in 2020.
For her additional COVID year, Taylor Hifo transferred to UC Riverside and was an All-Big West honorable mention selection in 2022, totaling 1,004 assists, 331 digs and 51 aces for the Highlanders.
Then, the call to coach found her.
“I was an assistant at Skyridge for two years and I just kind of fell in love with coaching,” Coach Hifo said. “BYU was great because they establish great coaching techniques from your freshman year on through their camps. I’ve always appreciated that because it’s helped me learn the whole game of volleyball, not just the position that I played. It’s been a blessing to continue coaching at Skyridge. The opportunity came to be head head and I decided to take it.”
Coach Hifo has surrounded herself with talent on the bench as well, pulling in former BYU teammate Sydney Martindale and former Cougar men’s volleyball player Cyrus Fa’alogo to join her.
“They’ve been so awesome,” Coach Hifo said. “I have such a great support staff and the have so much wisdom to share with the girls.”
It was a nice debut for Coach Hifo and the Falcons, who drilled Bingham in straight sets (25-9, 25-14, 25-20) to open the season on Tuesday.
Skyridge jumped out to a 7-1 lead in Set 1 as Bingham struggled with ball control. Emma White and Lucy Meck combined for a block and White scored on a tip to lead the Falcons to a commanding 18-4 lead. A kill from sophomore Sienna Kuresa helped Skyridge get to set point and a solo block from Hadyn Smith finished things off for a 25-9 victory.
Set 2 was more of the same and an ace from Lily Lundberg pushed the Falcons lead to 21-9. Kylie Buttars pounded the ball off the Bingham block at set point for a 25-14 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Bingham, also breaking in a first-year coach in Kendzee Cloward, finally got things going in the third set and took a 12-7 lead. Skyridge went on a 7-0 run, which included a block and a kill from Smith, a kill by Kuresa and an ace serve from Buttars, to surge into a 14-12 lead. The score was tied at 15, 17, 18, and 19 before Falcons libero Estelle Slaney served consecutive aces for a 21-19 advantage. Leading 21-20, Skyridge scored the final four points of the match with back-t0-back kills from Smith to finish off the sweep.
“Bingham really came around and came back in the third set,” Coach Hifo said. “They played tough and I loved how we were able to deal with some adversity.”
So far, the transition to a new head coach is going well for the Falcons.
“Everybody loves Tayler,” Skyridge senior setter Lily Grant said. “I think she’s a great coach. She’s also a setter coach, so that’s really nice for me. I love her coaching style. I love how she breaks things down and explains it to us.
“It’s awesome how we have such great team chemistry. We’re really good on the pins and our middles are really good, too. We’ve got some stuff to work on in practice but it’s going to be a really good season.”
The Hifos are expecting their second child (another boy) in mid-September. Right now, Coach Hifo is helping her players improve every day and hopes to eventually take them deep into the state tournament.
“I want to make sure we’re defining our success with the growth of the players and the growth of the program,” she said. “But it’s always the goal to get to that final game.”
Skyridge (1-0) will travel to northern Utah to play Ridgeline on Thursday.
