Hometown volleyball standout ready to get early start on South Carolina career
A few days after her high school career ended, Alayna Johnson is ready to begin the next chapter of her athletic and academic career.
The North Central High School senior signed her National Letter of Intent Wednesday to play volleyball for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Wednesday is the first day student-athletes can sign with colleges for the fall period, which lasts until Nov. 17.
Johnson will graduate from Kershaw County’s North Central High early and enroll in January at USC to play for coach Tom Mendoza.
“Getting started is awesome and being able to enroll early is even better,” Johnson said. “I’m very grateful to be able to go play. But North Central is always going to be a part of me and all the memories are going to stick.”
Johnson started getting college interest as an eighth-grader and committed to USC almost two years ago. She picked the Gamecocks offers from Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Conference, Big Ten and Big 12 schools.
Johnson said playing close to home and in a strong conference like the SEC were two of the factors in sticking with the Gamecocks. USC is 13-11 this season going into Wednesday’s match against Auburn and has three wins over ranked opponents this season.
“The program and the coaches are unbelievable and they care about us,” she said. “They care about you more than just players. They make sure our classes are going good and everything. And the volleyball is getting better. The players I know there and am going to be playing with, it is going to feel like home.”
Johnson is one of two instate USC signees for the Class of 2022 — St. Joseph’s setter Kimmie Thompson also is expected to sign Wednesday. The two played against each other Saturday in the Class 2A state championship.
When Johnson heads to college, it will be a “little weird” because it will be the first time in her career she won’t be playing for her father. Andy Johnson has coached his daughter since she started playing in the second grade. Alayna gave softball and basketball a try, but volleyball is the sport that stuck for her.
After Saturday’s state championship loss to St. Joseph’s, Andy Johnson got a little emotional when talking about coaching his daughter’s final high school match. This week, he reflected on watching her grow as a player and the time and hours his daughter put into getting to this point.
“She has put a lot of work and effort into it. It hasn’t come easy but it is something she enjoys doing. This wasn’t our ultimate goal,” Andy Johnson said. “Ten or 12 years ago when we started, we had no clue she would be in the position. She would be in the gym playing. But once she hit eighth or ninth grade, we thought, hey this could be a possibility, and something that she wanted to do as far as playing on the next level.
“We are so thankful and blessed for it to come true. A lot of hard work has gone into it and a lot of hard work will continue to go into it. But if it is something that you love and enjoy, then it is not really work.”
The 6-foot-2 outside hitter has been a five-year starter on the North Central volleyball team and helped the Knights to one of the most successful runs in school history. They won four straight region titles and played for upper or lower state championship three times during that span before earning the school’s first trip to state championship in almost 30 years.
St. Joseph defeated North Central 3-2 for the Class 2A championship on Saturday.
Johnson was a five-time Region Player of the Year and five-time all-state selection. This season, she led the team with 568 kills to go along with 235 digs, 74 aces and 38 blocks. For her career, Johnson finished with 2,286 kills, 1,118 digs, 368 aces and 88 blocks.
Johnson will play in the North-South All-Star volleyball matches later this month.
“We have been really close and been really fortunate here at North Central,” Andy Johnson said. “To be so close and then to have a chance to play for a championship, it was a huge accomplishment for us and very satisfying for the girls to get a chance to do that. And Alayna for her to get to that point, it was a great stage for her to play on.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 9:23 AM.
