Lily Johnson

Classroom

Lily Johnson owns a 3.96 cumulative GPA as a cell and molecular biology major. She earned CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team honors as a junior, and has twice made the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team. At the conference level, Johnson earned first-team MVC Scholar-Athlete honors as a sophomore and junior and is a six-time MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week, given to the top weekly male and female performers across all league sports. She also has earned the MVC Commissioner’s Academic Excellence Award each of her three years at MSU. Johnson will graduate in May 2018 and plans to pursue volleyball professionally before attending physician’s assistant school.

Character

A three-year team captain for Missouri State, Johnson recently completed a two-year term (July 2015-June 2017) as the MVC representative on the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has been a member of SAAC at Missouri State since the Spring 2015 semester, her second semester on campus. Johnson also spent time as a University Ambassador for Missouri State, an organization of highly-selected students responsible for giving campus tours to prospective students and representing MSU at on- and off-campus events that showcase the university. Additionally, Johnson is a member of the Golden Key National Honors Society and Phi Kappa Phi NHS and is involved in the Catholic Campus Ministry, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Student Society of Cell and Molecular Biologists.

Community

Johnson has completed more than 123 hours of community service during her time at Missouri State, including but not limited to the Bears Read program, MLK Day of Service, Healthy Heroes, MSU University Ambassadors, Mercy Kids Open House, Make-A-Wish, Springfield Boys and Girls Club, Special Olympics Missouri and several volleyball-related camps and academies.

Competition

Johnson began her senior season already the most accomplished volleyball player in Missouri State history. She is a three-time AVCA All-American (honorable mention 2014-2016), two-time MVC Player of the Year, the 2014 MVC Freshman of the Year and three-time first-team all-MVC selection as the only conference player to lead the league in kills as a freshmen, sophomore and junior. Johnson is the sixth player in MSU history with at least 1,000 career kills and digs, and already owns conference records for career attacks and matches with at least 10 kills. She is on pace to shatter the league record for career kills, as well as finish among the NCAA’s all-time top 20 in career kills and attacks. She ranked in the top five in the NCAA in total kills as both a sophomore and junior with more than 600 each season and owns the two longest streaks of double-figure kill matches in school history at 45 and 36 matches.

Johnson also played internationally for the US Collegiate National Team during the summers of 2016 and 2017. She is the NCAA’s active career leader in kills, attacks and sets played. In her first three seasons at Missouri State, Johnson helped the Bears to 70 total wins, two NCAA Tournament appearances and the 2016 MVC regular season title. Missouri State is the preseason favorite to win the MVC in 2017.