A thousand-yard smile will appear on League City Clear Falls High and Houston Stellar Volleyball Club star Mia Johnson’s face when she looks back on the summer before her junior year.
Johnson, who stands 5-foot-11, helped the Stellar 16’s squad win the 2019 USA Division national championship — as a rookie — just before the Fourth of July. Shortly after returning home from the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships in Indianapolis, she committed to play volleyball more than 3,000 miles away at the University of Hawaii.
Stellar owner and director Sara Zanon could not help but extol Johnson’s attributes on and off the court. Zanon described Johnson as “the whole package when it comes to an athlete.”
“Her style of play is very impactful and inspiring, too,” Zanon told Texas Scorecard. “She’s just one of those rare athletes … you see a ton of girls that play volleyball, but when you watch this girl play volleyball, it’s different just because her style of game is very composed and explosive at the same time. She makes a huge impact on her team not only by how good she is on the court but also her [humble] demeanor.”
Johnson plays outside hitter, tasked with helping move the scoreboard.
“She provides offense front row and back row,” Zanon explained. “She’s very much utilized as an attacker all the way around.”
Zanon added that Johnson “just fits in well with our environment.”
In addition to being excited for her protégé settling on a school in a locale made for volleyball, Zanon expressed pride in Johnson’s choice.
“It just felt right for her,” she said. “Her being her, she gave so much credit to everybody who helped her achieved that. I’m just really proud of her accomplishing such a major task at such a young age. She earned 100 percent of that just by how she plays.”
According to Zanon, Johnson “turned Hawaii’s head” at a national qualifier event earlier this year.
“They’ve been eyeing her ever since,” she said.
What was amazing about the victory in Indiana was that Johnson teamed up with a few of her Clear Creek Independent School District rivals down FM 518 to accomplish the feat.
“That’s the fun thing about playing club is that you can actually get the best of the best in your area together … to win titles like this,” Zanon said.
Two years remain for Johnson to continue providing an offensive spark for the Lady Knights and Stellar. And even after she leaves for the pristine white sands and crystal blue waters of Hawaii in 2021, her younger twin sisters will have the chance to create make their own impact on Stellar.
