Local volleyball club establishing a BYU connection

The Brigham Young University men’s and women’s volleyball teams have been consistently successful in playing at a high level for decades now. This year, some players from Utah will be joining their ranks, showcasing the growth the sport has been experiencing in the state.

Grace Fredrick, a setter from Skyline High School, joined the women’s team this spring and five young men—Corbin Batista, Soren Jepsen, Tennison Lighthall, Evan Olmstead and Trey Thornton—have committed to the men’s program.

“We could not be prouder to help showcase the incredible talent that Utah has to offer and it makes us so happy to know that thousands of young athletes across the state have been inspired to set goals, work hard and realize that dreams really can come true,” said Club GSL Volleyball founder and owner Warren Van Schalkwyk. “Thirty-five years ago, I attended BYU on a volleyball scholarship. It’s an amazing full-circle moment that now, all these years later, we have sent these six athletes to that same program.”

Grace Fredrick

Fredrick, the daughter of Nathan and Natalie of Millcreek, graduated early to get down to Provo and said that her experience so far is “everything I dreamed of.” “The coaches [Heather Olmstead, Dave Hyte and Daniel Jones] are amazing and the team is awesome,” she said. “The competitiveness is insane though as it’s a whole different level.”

The 5-foot-10 setter actually had her sights set on playing collegiate soccer, attending BYU soccer camps, and “just for fun” would also participate in BYU volleyball camps with friends and family. But, after making the Skyline High volleyball team as a freshman—with limited rec league experience at that point—she “found a love” for volleyball that changed her athletic trajectory. 

By her sophomore season, Fredrick was starting varsity and earned First Team All-Region honors. “At that point, I was just thinking volleyball was fun, but then I started received some interest from colleges and I was like, ‘What the heck? OK, I better lock in on a club and get better,’” she said. She began working with Andrew Clark at Club GSL to develop her skills further and get wider exposure. 

As a junior, she received Honorable Mention All-State recognition but her senior season, in leading the Eagles to the 5A state championship as the Most Valuable Player, showcased her abilities to more Division I schools and she found a spot at Brigham Young University, her top choice. “It’s incredible that it worked out academically and athletically for me to be able to have ‘No Sunday play’ or practices and be around such high standards,” Fredrick said. “Committing there was the happiest day of my life and just reaffirmed to me that God is in my life.”

Her journey in volleyball has helped her learn how to work hard and “put it all out there” to play her best and let that be enough. “Volleyball is a sport of mistakes where literally every point happens because someone made a mistake,” she said. “While I do get frustrated when I make a mistake, I’m not a perfectionist to the degree that I let my performance affect my internal value, so as to not be only defined as just a volleyball player.” 

Corbin Batista

Batista, the son of Victor and Nicolette Batista of Draper, is following in his dad’s footsteps in the BYU men’s volleyball program where his dad was on the 2004 national championship team. “BYU has always been a very successful program and I desperately wanted to be a part of it. Then when I was able to see the amazing culture this team creates and the energy they play with, that drew me even closer to it,” Batista said. 

The senior has been using his tall, athletic frame—now 6-foot-7—on the court for the past six years with Club GSL South and high school ball at Snow Canyon for three years until he transferred to Alta for his final season. 

The two-time Utah All-Star, All-State and All-Region player helped the Hawks to the Region 6 title this season while also earning Academic All-State recognition. 

“This year I moved away from family in order to be up here to play for GSL and this season has been better than I could ever imagine,” he said. “The coaching from Shawn Olmstead [who will be his coach at BYU] has been absolutely mind-blowing. This team is filled with some of the best players and people I have ever met, and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to be here.”

Batista said that volleyball has taught him resiliency and consistency. “There have been some tough decisions I had to make and some adversity to overcome and it’s all taught me how to be a better person,” he said. “It translates to all parts of life whether it’s school, work, social life and just life in general.”

With BYU, he has seen an opportunity “with the extraordinary coaching staff” to grow in the sport at a high-level and possibly even professionally and academically in the field of Exercise Wellness.

Trey Thornton

Thornton, the son of Jeff and Alisha Thornton of Spanish Fork, grew up playing basketball and swimming competitively but something about watching his older sisters on the volleyball court stuck with him. “As soon as it was an option to play volleyball I took it and fell in love with the team and social aspect of it,” said the now 6-foot-7 senior. 

Thornton lived mainly in Alabama, competing at Hoover High School and with Alabama Performance and Tennessee’s C2 Attack for club volleyball where playing collegiately became the goal. “That really prepared me and steered me in the right direction,” he said. 

His family’s move to Utah put him at Maple Mountain High School where he earned the state’s first-ever Mr. Volleyball Award after leading the Golden Eagles to the 5A state championship last spring. The First-Team All-State and Region 7 Most Valuable Player helped his squad successfully defend that title in early May.

His experience with GSL the past two years has given him “the opportunity to compete at a high level with a really fun team and great coaches.”

The sport that has taught Thornton to work hard and overcome adversity has brought him to BYU, his “dream school” and the same campus where his mom, Alisha Griffeth, played basketball in the late 1990s. “It was a big dream for a kid from Alabama where volleyball was very rare for boys,” he said. “When schools started reaching out to me and BYU contacted me, I knew that was my path forward.”

Tennison Lighthall

Lighthall, the son of Dirk and Heidi Lighthall of Pleasant View, played soccer, baseball, football and basketball growing up until he was introduced to volleyball by a mom who coached the sport and taught him the basics. “Without those little things I learned from her, I wouldn’t have been as successful. I quickly fell in love with it and stopped playing all other sports from that point on,” he said. “I chose volleyball because of the friendships created, as well as the way I feel when playing. As soon as that first serve goes up, everything else completely disappears. My body and mind just click into a flow state and it’s addicting. That feeling when you get a good dig, hit, or block is so sweet and you always strive to get another one.”

Lighthall is a 2023 graduate who played just two games during the 2020 pandemic-shortened season in Arizona during his freshman year. Then he was only able to play on Weber High’s club volleyball team—where he was a three-time Utah volleyball All-Star and All-Star Game Most Valuable Player—for the next three years when his family moved to Pleasant View and the sanctioning of boys volleyball didn’t begin until 2024.

He credits his ability to play at a high level with playing for Club GSL in tournaments against nationally-ranked teams and attending USA Volleyball National Team Development Program camps. “Without GSL I would not be where I am at today,” he said. “It is not just a volleyball club, but it is truly a family. The people there are there to build you up as a person, as a player and to provide opportunities for your future. I am beyond grateful for each coach, teammate and friend I was able to make there.”

Lighthall is grateful for learning how to work hard, sacrifice and communicate—skills he has used on and off the court. “To be successful in volleyball, you have to really want it and then work harder than others to get what you want,” he said. “A lot of people ‘want’ to play in college, but only those who are willing to work hard and sacrifice can really make it. For me to get where I am, I had to sacrifice by waking up early and working out before school and then travel by train an hour and a half away for practices throughout most of high school. I also heard coaches say 10,000 times that ‘communication is key,’ and I have learned how true that is, not only on the court, but in real life.”

Being able to play collegiately has always been on Lighthall’s radar and, although he actually hasn’t stepped foot on the court for BYU yet as he’s been serving a two-year LDS mission in Australia, he will join the team this fall. “Where I am at now, is a dream come true,” he said.

Soren Jepsen

Jepsen, the son of Bret and Katie Jepsen of Holladay, started playing basketball when he was young—the sport his dad and uncle played at BYU—but he switched courts in seventh grade and began his journey in volleyball.

At Olympus High, he led his team to the state championship during his junior year in 2023 and then was able to play one season in the newly-sanctioned sport, earning All-American status and being recognized as the 5A Player of the Year as a senior.

As a freshman, he began dreaming of playing at the college level so he trained with Reed Carlson at Club V and then with Van Schalkwyk at Club GSL in 2024. “It was awesome and a super fun time, working really hard,” he said. “We had a good time traveling and playing together.”

The key life lessons Jepsen has gained from volleyball are team coordination and communication, taking “fundamental roles of players that work together to achieve something.”

Choosing between several schools to take his talents to wasn’t too difficult despite enjoying good relationships with several coaches at Long Beach State, Pepperdine and Loyola Chicago on the recruiting trail. “BYU had the whole package for him,” his mom Katie Jepsen said. “They had a competitive team with a history of being great, a phenomenal coaching staff, plus a great education and college environment that aligned with his goals.” 

Jepsen is currently serving an LDS mission in Argentina and will join the Cougars program in the fall of 2026 with his eyes on national team and professional pursuits beyond college. Academically, he plans to pursue business investing and real estate.