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Maple Mountain's Trey Thornton reacts during a Region 7 boys volleyball match against Springville on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Daily Herald

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Maple Mountain's Trey Thornton (28) holds up the 5A Boys Volleyball State Championship trophy at the UCCU Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

Courtesy Jeff Porcaro, Maple Mountain Sports

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Maple Mountain's Trey Thornton serves the ball in a high school boys volleyball match against Orem during the 2025 season.

Courtesy Jeff Porarco, Maple Mountain Sports

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Maple Mountain's Trey Thornton (28) takes a swing against Wasatch in the 5A boys volleyball state finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

Jeff Porcaro, Maple Mountain Sports

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Maple Mountain's Trey Thornton (8) takes a swing against Springville's Nolan Snead (left) and Evan Straw in a Region 7 boys volleyball match on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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Growing up in Alabama, 12-year-old Trey Thornton’s introduction to volleyball came through his three sisters, who all played, and a number of other girls on teams where he learned the game.

Thornton eventually grew to 6-foot-7, moved to Utah and helped created a very special legacy for the boys volleyball program at Maple Mountain High School.

Thornton was part of two state championships in the Beehive State and totaled 851 kills over that two-year span. His dominant, confident and complementary play has earned him the Daily Herald’s Valley Player of the Year for 2025.

Thornton said he sometimes practiced with the Maple Mountain girls team when he first arrived in Utah. That team, led by twins Marley and Morgan Pratt, won the 2023 5A state title. In Alabama he often played with Merritt Beason, who became an All-American and team captain for the Nebraska women’s volleyball team from 2021 to 2024.

Thornton credits time he’s spent playing volleyball with girls as a key to his all-around game.

“Ball control is something girls have on us,” Thornton said. “We might have more athleticism, where we can jump higher and hit harder, but their technical skills are so good. I can tell you it’s way harder passing on a girls net than on a men’s net because of their float serves. That’s really helped my control a lot.”

Maple Mountain has won 42 straight matches against Utah opponents and posted a 29-1 record in 2025. Thornton had 422 kills (he had 429 last season) which is 4.7 kills per set. He raised his hitting percentage from .364 to .431 and totaled 49 aces, 43 total blocks and 169 digs.

In the 5A state semifinals against Alta and future BYU teammate Corbin Batista, Thornton totaled 25 kills in a 3-1 victory. He added 21 kills and hit .421 as the Golden Eagles swept Wasatch in the finals.

“Trey can hit and block really well, but one of the things that’s overlooked generally and one of the skill sets that sets him apart is his ball control,” Maple Mountain coach Napoleon Galang said. “His defense and passing is really good. If we asked him to be a libero, he’d be the best libero on the team.

“He really grew into his game this year. His IQ with his offense just skyrocketed. He added smart tips and deep pushes to the corner, just any kind of shot he needed to score. He added so much to his tool belt offensively and had 10 different ways to score, not just five.”

Two summers ago, Thornton moved to Utah and was introduced to his future teammates at a casual get-together where the group played pickup beach volleyball in a backyard. That was the start of a many friendships that would carry him through the transition of the move to Utah.

“Trey is a very quite and humble kid,” Galang said. “He doesn’t celebrate loudly and just shows what he is by the way he played. It’s cool to see that from such a high-caliber player. He lets his skills speak for him.”

Thornton had plenty of help from talented teammates in winning back-to-back state titles, including 6-7 junior setter Taft Hillman and 6-6 senior middle Manase Storey. Thornton, Hillman and Storey mentored younger players such as junior Matheus Borges and freshmen Kimball Olsen and McKay Beattie as they worked to replace key teammates who graduated from the 2024 state champions (Mac Hillman, Gavin Pricer).

“I think our team had a great sense of self,” Thornton said. “We knew our identity and we were just a family. We knew that we had each other’s backs every game. Every day at school we were always looking out for each other. We’re really good friends and translated into our game play because we trusted everyone to do everything for the right reasons to reach our goals.”

Thornton — whose mother, Alisha Griffiths, played basketball at BYU in the early 2000’s — will begin his Cougar career as a counselor at the school’s volleyball camps this spring and summer and intends to play for Shawn Olmstead in 2026.

“I would say the culture at BYU is very special,” he said. “I could feel it even before I went on my official visit. We went to one of the women’s volleyball games. It was sold out and I had kind of that ‘aha!’ moment. I was meant to be here. It’s where I’ve been led and I’ve always dreamed of playing there. The coaching is some of the best around. They really care about their players.”