Staff Writer
At the beginning of the season, one of Montgomery County’s veteran girls volleyball coaches described junior outside hitter Kayla Johnson as “a diamond in the rough” and “possibly one of the best players that no one will be talking about.”
That notion has slowly changed throughout the season as Johnson developed into one of the area’s most prolific hitters en route to guiding a middling Rockville High School program to a respectable 7-5 record through the weekend. Her 191 kills in 42 sets is good enough for a 4.55 kills per game average, third best in county.
“I think she’s a little under the radar,” first-year Rams coach Rich Carter said. “That is probably because of where she plays and the lack of historical success we’ve had compared to some of the traditional schools. Having said that, she’s done a great job heightening the expectations and changing the girls mentality.”
Northwood coach Ray Trail agrees.
“She is very tough in the front row because she can jump out of the gym,” said Trail, whose team surrendered 22 kills to Johnson last month, but defeated Rockville in five sets. “If she could [pass] consistently, she’d be in the top five players in the county.”
Johnson, a three-year varsity player and the only Ram that plays volleyball outside of school, has always been involved in sports, beginning her athletic career as a gymnast at age five and continuing until she fell “in love” in seventh grade with volleyball. Standing at just 5-foot-7, Johnson credits the vault, her favorite gymnastics event, as a key to her on-court success. She can leap high above the net; jump touching 9-feet-7.5-inches.
“I’ve always been strong and have had the ability to jump,” Johnson said. “I saw volleyball on television and was just like, ‘This looks fun I want to try it.’ No one in my family or friends played volleyball so I was kind of branching out on my own and blazing my own trail.”
She received permission from her parents and attended a local clinic and eventually suited up for Champions of Tomorrow club team before taking her talents to Metro American.
Johnson’s Metro American 16 Travel team qualified in July for USA Volleyball Junior National Championships in Atlanta. During club season, Johnson played with several of the region’s best volleyball players, including Alex Holston (Sherwood), Maddie Moyer (Sherwood), Sydney West (Sherwood), Taylor Gallart (Academy of the Holy Cross), Teynia Sheperd (Paint Branch), Catherine Benez (Whitman), Stephanie Paul (Walter Johnson), Kristen Larrick (Walter Johnson), Sydney Johnson (Good Counsel), Franchesca Kuhney (Blake) and Kathlyn Skolnik (Montgomery Blair).
“All the girls are so nice and so good at volleyball,” Johnson said. “We all taught each other so much. … I know for me, I feel like I’ve progressed a lot this year. The experience during club season has really helped me mature for high school. As the most experienced player on the floor, I have to hold up my end of the bargain and help teach all my teammates.”
Following the club nationals, Johnson began receiving preliminary interest from colleges. She said she’s exchanged e-mails with several schools including Georgia Southern, Radford (Va.) University and Emory (Ga.) University.
“I know I’m not going to go to a big school,” Johnson said. “Since I am not that tall, I may not be a hitter forever so I really need to work on my passing and setting. I just want to find a good balance between academics and athletics. If that is not a [Division I] school, I’m just going to go where my ability takes me.”
By all accounts, Johnson’s personal assessment is accurate.
“As a pure hitter, she’s as good as they come,” Carter said. “She’s polished, can read the defense and adjusts very well to bad sets. Passing wise, she has some work to do, but that’s my job as a coach to help her and our whole team improve.”
With less than a week remaining in the regular season, the Rams are hoping Johnson can help them win a playoff match or two.
“I figured this was going to be one of our best years,” senior setter Liana Kam said. “I know if I am in trouble, I can push the ball to Kayla and she will get a point.”
kzakour@gazette.net