Scrap the stats from a season ago.

They mean nothing to Addy Thorington.

A few sets, sporadic playing time and a player who barely saw the court.

Just the typical freshman “Welcome to Division I volleyball” experience.

Not the case as a sophomore.

Thorington, after a year as a reserve and a player adjusting to DI volleyball, has transformed into a key piece of the University of Wyoming’s rotation.

“Everybody, they were like, ‘Just go to a JUCO.’ You will be fine,’” said Thorington, who hails from Powell. “I was like, ‘No, I’m determined to go big.’ I want to go as big as I can. I want to achieve my dreams.”

“Ever since I was little, I wanted to go play volleyball in college and be top dog and have so much fun. It has been that so far.”

Her status is an outlier in itself.

Thorington, a high-flying, always-smiling 6-foot outside hitter, never played club volleyball.

Not an option — at least not for nationally competitive clubs — in Wyoming. NORCO Volleyball Club in Loveland, Colorado, represents the most popular and closest option.

Two of the three Cowgirls who attended a Wyoming high school — Casper’s Abi Milby and Laramie’s Maddy Stucky — played there.

Thorington starred at Class 3A Powell, and she became UW’s first Wyoming Class 3A talent since 2017.

Still, Thorington, once an under-the-radar recruit who started her recruitment late, immediately impacted the Cowgirls in the 2025 season.

She boasts two starts and 10 appearances across 30 sets this season in a position group loaded with underclassmen and All-Mountain West honoree Paige Lauterwasser. UW (6-7) hosts the Brown and Gold scrimmage at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“We want to win the state of Wyoming,” Cowgirls coach Kaylee Prigge said. “So, that is first and foremost. It is hard to see them. They don’t play very much club volleyball, so really our only chances are in the fall when we are in season, too.”

Thorington’s accolades at Powell told a story of once-in-a-decade domination.

She had more than 1,300 kills across her four years as a starter. She was a three-time all-state selection, a two-time 3A West player of the year and the state’s kills leader as a senior with 603.

Still, UW barely noticed Thorington because the Cowgirls, like most DI programs, recruit through club volleyball, which typically occurs from November to July.

They recruit nonclub players about “5% of the time,” Prigge said.

Thorington’s high school basketball coach, Chelsea Kistler, changed that.

Kistler realized Thorington’s potential and related to the “diamond in the rough” situation as a girl from small-town Illinois who played basketball at Illinois and Indiana State.

So, Kistler sent UW Thorington’s film and made her message clear.

“I specifically told Wyoming, ‘I think you better take a close look at this one,’” Kistler said.

“I think this one might have gotten past your radar just a little bit.’”

Prigge agreed.

“We were like, ‘I think we need to see this kid,’” Prigge said.

Prigge sent her associate head coach, Becky Baker, to the 2023 Class 3A West Regional in case Powell did not qualify for the state tournament.

It did, thanks to a regional championship. Thorington later helped the Panthers to a runner-up finish at the state tournament.

“(Thorington) did all the hard stuff by producing and making it where (Wyoming) couldn’t not recruit her,” Kistler said. “They had no other option than to look her way after they got that video.”

Kistler, who taught Thorington in middle school, “always had an inkling” she could play DI athletics. Thorington’s accomplishments in high school proved that.

Thorington, as a junior, recorded a triple-double with blocks at the girls basketball state tournament.

“I have been around basketball a long time with coaching it and playing it myself, and I have never seen that done — a triple-double with blocked shots,” Kistler said.

Thorington, though, didn’t experience immediate success in Laramie.

“Most freshmen have a big learning curve,” Prigge said. “Wyoming kids that have never played club volleyball in their lives have a very, very steep uphill battle, and she has handled it very, very well.”

Thorington, as a freshman, appeared in four sets across three matches — which were the second-fewest on the team for noninjured players.

After a year of adjusting to the speed of DI volleyball and bonding with her teammates, confidence keyed Thorington’s improvement.

“Belief in myself (is the most important thing),” she said. “Everybody else believes in me. It really helps having other people believe in you. Just having confidence and believing in myself, really.”

A whole town believes in Thorington, too. Something that powers her throughout her college journey.

“It is kind of like the Caitlin Clark effect with basketball, as far as you see some young girl getting the job done when she becomes older,” Kistler said. “They are getting to get that from Addy as far as somebody that they look up to in their community and it is like, ‘Well, hey, if I want to play at the next level, Addy did it, why can’t I?’”