12:06 p.m.

Shortly after noon struck on Thursday, June 26, senior Kayla Thienprasiddhi submitted her pre-read, a review of the athlete’s qualifications to determine if the student would likely be admitted, which included her academic transcript and a short essay question.

At first, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. 

But as the day dragged on, she grew more anxious over the uncertainty of when she would hear back from the college.

However, it was only nine hours after the submission when she got the call. 

She was preparing mushroom pasta for dinner at 9:03 p.m. when Pomona College’s volleyball head coach Valerie Townsend texted her.

“When would you have time for a quick call?” the text read.

“I wasn’t expecting the pre-read results to come back so quickly, because I had just submitted the form at noon the same day,” Thienprasiddhi said. “But when she texted me that, I knew that she had my results.”

She answered the phone with her mom, and that’s when she heard the words she’d been waiting for the past four years since she began to consider a future at Pomona College: she had earned a spot on the team, along with a likely acceptance to her dream school.

“My immediate reaction was happiness because this was my top choice for where I would want to play volleyball and go to school out of all the colleges recruiting me,” she said. “But I was also relieved when she told me because I had been working so hard on my application for the pre-read for the past few weeks, and there was still some uncertainty in my head about whether it would come back good or not.”

It was finally no longer just a dream, but a reality.

“The first thing I did after getting the call was just [sit] on my sofa in relief and almost astonishment because I didn’t expect my results to come back so quickly,” she said. “But straight after, I told my dad because he wasn’t there for the conversation, and I knew he would be so excited for me.”

Thienprasiddhi’s dad, Jerry Thienprasiddhi, said Kayla Thienprasiddhi’s verbal commitment to Pomona College brought relief in skipping the typical college application stress. 

“We’re incredibly proud of Kayla’s dedication to volleyball and her academic achievements,” Jerry Thienprasiddhi said. “Her hard work has earned her a spot at Pomona College, and we’re excited to see her thrive there.”

On Thursday, Aug. 28, Kayla Thienprasiddhi announced her verbal commitment to Pomona College through her Instagram.

“A lot of people commented ‘Congratulations’ or ‘I knew you could do it,’” she said. “It felt really nice because I have been putting a lot of work into volleyball, and it was nice to know that people appreciated it and recognized that I could play volleyball in college.”

THE FIRST SERVE

The senior said she started playing volleyball with her dad in her backyard when she was five and soon after began to play at the Young Men’s Christian Association [YMCA] at eight years old.

Jerry Thienprasiddhi said he was on his college volleyball club team, and he said he started playing volleyball with his daughter because of his love for the sport and the lifelong friendships he created through playing. 

“I thought that if she liked [playing volleyball], she might be able to get the same or more out of it,” he said. “It’s also the ultimate team sport, which can be played for a lifetime and uniquely be competitively or recreationally played either men’s, women’s or coed.”

Kayla Thienprasiddhi said there wasn’t a specific moment she fell in love with the sport. Rather, she developed this love over time as it’s always been in her life. 

She also said she grew to love the sport more through learning about the different parts of volleyball, such as being on a team, how to compete in high-pressure situations and make a game-winning play, how to improve and the feeling of hard work paying off. 

“Volleyball was the sport that I grew up with, and it has now become such a big part of my life that I can’t imagine not playing it,” the outside hitter said.

After playing at the YMCA for a year, Kayla Thienprasiddhi said her dad put her in her first club when she was nine.

“Club volleyball had a big impact on my volleyball career because our season’s a lot longer than in high school,” she said. “Club volleyball is where I learned mostly everything that I use right now.”  

The senior said the first club she joined was Brea Volleyball Academy in 2017, where she learned the basics of volleyball, such as types of sets, where to go in each rotation and skills like passing and hitting. 

“It was the first time I was on a team and actually met people outside of my elementary school, so it was an experience that brought me out of my comfort zone, and also made me realize how much I love playing volleyball for the team aspect of it,” the senior said. 

She said her third club, Dream In Gold, which she joined when she was 11, allowed her to develop as a player with good technique and a competitive mindset. 

“[Coach Tyler Jackson] was very technical and disciplined, and I could actually notice myself improving at every practice I went to,” she said. “Along with my technique, my mindset also changed.” 

After leaving the previous club because of the pandemic, her next one, Achievement Commitment Teamwork, taught her leadership. 

“This team was where I had to learn how to balance the different personalities on my team,” she said. “It gave me a taste of what high school volleyball would be like as I got into my junior and senior years.”

As a freshman, Kayla Thienprasiddhi joined the varsity team and became team captain in her junior and senior years. 

“Ever since her freshman year, she’s been a kid that we’ve needed out there just about 100% of the time,” head girls volleyball coach Amanda Donaldson said. “Being junior captain and now a senior captain, she’s developed into not just a phenomenal volleyball player, but a phenomenal leader and teammate.” 

Kayla Thienprasiddhi said she was surprised when she made it onto varsity her freshman year.  

“I was definitely nervous when I first joined because one of the players, Kayla Taylor, was the one I looked up to,” she said. “I think, looking up to her, I was nervous about how I performed because I wanted to perform like her.” 

Donaldson said the outside hitter is a logical player who is never emotional when she gets feedback. 

“She is a very calm player, and she’s very passionate and gets excited and brings the intensity on the court, but she does it in such a very calm and reassuring way,” Donaldson said. 

Although Kayla Thienprasiddhi said she keeps calm during high-pressure moments by not focusing on mistakes and recovering from errors, she sometimes finds herself letting her emotions take over.

“Especially if the rest of my team is not doing well, I feel like it puts a lot of pressure on me to be able to do well for the team and get points,” she said. “I try to keep calm and stay consistent and like to get points for a team.”

As her team’s leader, the captain said her job is to ensure that all her teammates are completing their work properly.

“I think as a team captain, you always have to be responsible and keep people on track, especially if the team isn’t doing well,” the captain said. “Especially warming up and before a game, we have to make sure we’re doing it properly, but still being someone my teammates could talk to, not just like a dictator.”

SETTING THE BALL

After entertaining the idea of playing volleyball past high school, Kayla Thienprasiddhi said she realized playing volleyball collegiately would give her an advantage in her dream school and promote discipline when it came to balancing athletics and academics.

In addition, she said she wanted to play volleyball in college because it would allow her to meet new people.

“High school volleyball really made me realize I wanted to play in college because, from what I know, high school volleyball is more similar to college volleyball,” she said. “In high school, I got to meet so many people that I wouldn’t have crossed paths with if it weren’t for that team, and I also wanted to get that experience in college.”

The now-senior said she first visited Pomona College in March 2025 during her sophomore year because of its positive reputation for its academics. She said she initially viewed the institution as a small school compared to the University of California schools that she dreamed of attending since she was a kid.

“I didn’t really see Pomona as a college I could see myself going to until volleyball made me research the school more,” the senior said. “My parents really influenced me because they also helped me research the school.”

While researching, she said she learned a lot about the different types of schools, such as how the University of California schools compared to liberal arts schools.

“I felt like I would really fit into a smaller school that had a good teacher-to-student ratio, while having a tight-knit community,” she said.

Before attending a summer camp at San Gabriel Elite Volleyball Club in November 2024, she said she emailed a Pomona College scout to come watch her, but the person did not end up attending. 

During the camp, coaches from many colleges saw Kayla Thienprasiddhi on the court, and schools such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT], New York University and Stevens Institute of Technology contacted her.

Nonetheless, the coaches from Pomona College still saw her films through SportsRecruits after the summer camp, a resource that athletes use to upload videos for college coaches to see their profile, initiating her contact with the school.

Kayla Thienprasiddhi said she also reached out to MIT and Swarthmore College, but finally decided on Pomona College. 

She said Pomona College allows her to try new things, and she doesn’t need to focus on one field. 

“My coach told me that every freshman gets assigned a random class, and they don’t get a pick,” Kayla Thienprasiddhi said. “It’s more like you get to try new things at Pomona College, which is something I like.”

Additionally, she said Pomona College’s coaching staff helped her choose which school she wanted to commit to. 

“Meeting the coaches and talking to the coaches really helps,” she said. “My coach really made me want to go there because she was really interested in me, and she was trying to help me get into the school.”

Setter senior Sue Kang said that upon hearing the news, she was overjoyed for Kayla Thienprasiddhi.

“I’m proud of her because she told me that she doesn’t want to just have volleyball in her college life and she wants to experience other things too,” Kang said. “I think because of that, I’m proud that she got into such a good college.”

THE NEXT CHAPTER

The future Sagehen said that although she is guaranteed to play at Pomona College, she still has to go through the normal application process and get accepted to the school through the early decision round. 

On Dec. 15, her birthday, she said she plans to confirm her commitment to the college. 

In the meantime, the Pomona College commit said she has already begun thinking about the goals she has for the new stage of her life.  

“I want to be a starting player right away, and I think I can if I work hard enough,” she said. “I’m committing a lot of time to volleyball right now, so I feel like balancing my college life with volleyball is going to be good there.”

The senior said she feels good about playing volleyball at Pomona College because she thinks it will be a good balance between volleyball and student life. She said she hopes to major in STEM-related fields, but is also open to new experiences.

“I think volleyball is going to teach me how to work with new people in college,” she said. “I think it’s going to open me up to a lot more experiences, and I’ll also be friends with the seniors already.”

As she moves on from high school to college, Kayla Thienprasiddhi said she is excited about living outside of her home and being on a new team. 

“I’m excited to play with the older players that are more experienced and have already played in college but also being able to bring a new perspective to the team,” she said.