By Kassidy Robinson
Wingate Triangle contributing writer
Returning to the court for her third season on the Wingate volleyball team, Emily “Johnny” Johnson, a 6-0 junior middle blocker, is using her skills and experience to lead the 18-2 Bulldogs to another stellar campaign.
Johnson is recognized for her stoic presence on the court as a player. However, she is known in the locker room for her originality. Before each game, she always sports a fun, creative hairstyle to express her personality while maintaining her intense, driven demeanor on the court.
“The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Emily is the phrase we use for her, ‘silent killer,’” said Alanna Vavao, a sophomore outside hitter from Bellbrook, Ohio. “It just means Emily is the kind of player that doesn’t necessarily say a lot but has such a big contribution to our team’s success.”
Johnson has earned All-South Atlantic Conference and All-Southeast Region accolades in her time as a Bulldog, including six SAC Player-of-the-Week honors and two All-Region distinctions.
“I think of her as the steady presence on the court,” said Sydney Morland, a sophomore middle blocker from Colorado Springs, Colo. “She is calm and composed but highly competitive and terminal on the court all the same. She proves that you can play the sport well with class and composure.”
In her first year at Wingate in 2022, Johnson was named the region’s Freshman of the Year and also received Division 2 second-team All-America accolades. Last season, Johnson picked up first-team All-Southeast Region honors along with three SAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week recognitions. This year, Johnson ranks third in the SAC with a .403 hitting percentage for a Bulldogs team that sits atop the conference standings at 10-1 in late October.
“She has a very serious but calm presence on the court,” said Lorna Stacherski, a graduate student outside hitter from Lexington, S.C. “Emily is always doing her job and is an absolute hammer in the middle. She is very consistent with her play, not only with hitting but with her serving, blocking and left-back defense. Her skills are very versatile. When I’m on the court with her, I have so much confidence that she is going to put the ball away.”
Johnson has led the Bulldogs to a 74-9 record in her three seasons, compiling a hitting percentage of 0.359 per match. She has accumulated 494 kills, 113 digs, 205 block assists, 31 service aces and 21 solo blocks during that time, earning 648.5 points with an average of 3.0 points and 2.29 kills per set.
“Johnny” earned her nickname the day she met the team for the first time. According to Stacherski, Johnson “absolutely blew the team away” after committing late to the Bulldogs in April 2022.
“The thing that made me choose Wingate volleyball was all of the girls on the team,” Johnson said. “When I came on my visit I felt welcomed by every single girl. I got to practice with them and the atmosphere in the gym was better than any other school I had been to. I felt like a part of the team.”
Johnson helped the ’Dogs climb as high as No. 6 in the national rankings in 2022 on the way to an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. She has also been a part of two teams that won regular-season SAC titles and one that took home the SAC Tournament championship.
“I will always remember my freshmen year when we won regionals to go to the Elite Eight,” said Johnson. “Getting to celebrate that with my team will be one of my favorite memories from that season.”
Johnson is calm on and off the court, according to her roommate, sophomore setter Maya Van Heyst. “She does her job quietly and doesn’t expect a lot of praise or recognition for it,” Van Heyst said. “[She is] hard-working, humble and thoughtful.”
The ultra-athletic Johnson plays “her own brand of volleyball,” according to Morland. She was a multi-sport athlete in high school, participating in varsity basketball, volleyball and track as a thrower for Fort Collins (Colo.) High School. She was especially successful on the basketball court, accumulating 696 points and 671 rebounds in her career while breaking the her school’s single-game record for rebounds (24) as sophomore. She left the Lady Lambkins as the school’s all-time leading rebounder.
Last summer, Johnson represented Wingate at the 2024 European Global Challenge in Croatia, playing on a USA under-23 team that won the tournament.
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