5A boys volleyball: BYU signee Thornton helps Maple Mountain go back-to-back

OREM — From the first day of preseason, Maple Mountain boys’ volleyball coach Napoleon Galang knew his team had something special.

The Golden Eagles weren’t just defending 5A champions from the first-ever UHSAA-sanctioned state tournament. They wanted to double their tally, too.

“They knew what they wanted,” Galang said, “and they worked so hard every day in practice for that.

“Our senior captain Manase is the best middle in the state. Taft is the best setter in the state. We have the two best freshmen in the state, and some of the best players in general in our program. And they support each other in whatever moment.”

It’s hard to argue against it.

BYU signee Trey Thornton had 17 kills, and Taft Hillman dished out 27 assists as top-rated Maple Mountain cruised to back-to-back 5A titles, 25-16, 25-15, 25-15, Saturday evening over Wasatch at the UCCU Center at Utah Valley University.

Matheus Borges added five kills and five block touches for the Golden Eagles (29-1), who capped a dominant follow-up campaign to last year’s inaugural sanctioned state title by not losing to an opponent from the state of Utah.

“That’s a credit to Taft; he runs a great offense. And our passing is the best in the state,” said Thornton, the 6-foot-6 outside hitter and opposite who also had offers from USC, Ohio State, Lewis, Pepperdine, UC San Diego and Penn State.

“Every single game, I think we out-perform in the passing category,” he added. “Having the pass in the set really sets up our offense to go hammer balls.”

Any good volleyball team’s standout hitting always starts with serve-receiving and passing, and the Golden Eagles were no different. But just how dominant was Maple Mountain, though?

The Eagles lost just nine total sets against in-state opponents, the last of which in a 3-1 win over Alta in Saturday’s semifinals. The lone loss came back on March 29, a 2-1 tournament setback to Windward from Los Angeles, California.

Since then, life’s been coming up Maple, including a perfect 12-0 ascension through Region 7 play and the No. 1 overall seed in the state tournament.

But it’s not just Thornton, who plays for BYU coach Shawn Olmstead with Club GSL in the summer.

Hillman, the 6-foot-7 setter who jokes who took up the position in sixth grade after playing with his dad and friends while being “the only one who couldn’t hit,” has become adept at finding openings.

That includes Thornton, who put down five kills from among Hillman’s eight assists as the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 16-8 advantage and never looked back.

But it also means distributing the ball from a back row that includes freshman McKay Beattie for Hillman to distribute to Thornton, Borges and middle hitter Manase Storey, who had four block touches, and the rest of the attack.

“Obviously, I’ve got to feed our big hitters, which are Manase and Trey,” Hillman said. “But every team is always so focused on them, and they don’t realize we have a lot of great weapons that are ready for every set.

“I’ll go to Manase and Trey a lot, but I know that my other hitters are ready and can put a ball down when I need them to.”

Hillman got it done on defense, too.

The 6-foot-7 junior recorded his second block of the match to lift Maple Mountain to an 11-7 advantage in the second set. The Eagles didn’t slow down until they won the second set, 25-15 on a service error.

Story gave Maple Mountain a dominant 18-8 lead in the third set, and Abe Hawkins and Thornton sealed the win with a block up the middle to give the Golden Eagles their first championship.

JJ Serre put down seven kills to lead Wasatch (21-9), which got 13 assists from Brody Hulme.