Courtesy of Aanya Hotha

Aanya Hotha shows her team and school spirit with this photo showing her commitment to UPenn.

After an exhausting 3-day tournament — and missing out on the National bid the team had hoped for at the qualifier in Las Vegas — junior Aanya Hotha was packing her suitcase and eating an Oreo when she received a text from a college coach. It said: “When can we schedule a call to talk?” After discussing the possible outcomes of the conversation with her parents, she texted the coach back to say she was ready for the call. 

“I started crying when head coach Tyler (Hagstrom) told me the news (of the team offering her a spot); it felt like I was on top of the world. This was the call I had been hoping for over the last six months,” said Hotha, who will play middle for the Quakers.

Like many kids, she had the chance to try several sports, including volleyball, in early elementary school, but only volleyball truly stuck.  

 She began playing on the Vision 11 Gold club team in San Jose at age 10. As a self-described shy child, volleyball pushed Hotha out of her comfort zone. As Hotha grew older, she became much more comfortable with the team dynamic and fell in love with the sport and the friendships she fostered through it.

“I want to play at the collegiate level because I thrive in competitive environments that push me to my limits, and college athletics offers the best opportunity to elevate my game. However, volleyball has always been about more than just individual growth to me — it’s where I found my community. I want to be part of a college family where we grow and travel together as a team,” Hotha said.  

For Hotha, the recruitment process began on June 15 of her sophomore year, the first day Division I and II coaches can officially initiate direct communication with student-athletes.

Hotha toured the Penn campus for the first time in July after her sophomore year, and she immediately fell in love with it. She said she could envision herself there for the next four years, as Penn stood out to her for both its academics and team environment.

Despite receiving interest from many schools, Penn was not initially one of them because communications became difficult after a head coaching change occurred. However, at Penn’s volleyball summer camp in the summer of her junior year where coaches first saw her play, she made a strong positive impression.

“Penn’s recruiting process was so late; that meant a lot of my potential options would have closed up because by that time, they were already done recruiting,” Hotha said.

It wasn’t until the winter and early spring season of this school year that Penn coaches began closely evaluating her at tournaments. The coaches first saw Hotha play at the Triple Crown Tournament, where her team finished fifth in the country. The head coach later traveled to Las Vegas in March to watch her play at the Red Rock Rave Girls Junior National Qualifier, and just 30 minutes after the tournament, Hotha received an offer, which she happily accepted. 

In addition to Penn’s stellar academics, Hotha said she is especially drawn to the team’s dynamics and the coaching style. 

“The coaches made it into a really fun environment [at their camp] where I could grow my skills too,” she said.