There wasn’t too much of anything that Ripon High senior Kelsey Johnston had to prove. When The Bulletin’s 2010 All-Area Volleyball Most Valuable Player began her season, there was only one mission yet to be conquered and that task no longer stands.
Johnston and her Ripon High teammates fell just short of the glory a season ago when they dropped the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV Volleyball championship to Christian Brothers 15-12 in five games.
The title game loss had become a habit for the Indians’ program, putting together near-perfect Trans Valley League runs only to run into a more-dominant Christian Brothers team for the fourth consecutive year.
As illustrious as Johnston’s season was again this year, finishing her Ripon career without a blue-banner was something that she did not want to have to experience.
“It felt so good to win it my senior year,” Johnston said. “I think that all the girls this year definitely wanted it, not for ourselves, but for the girls from Ripon who didn’t get to win that title.
“It was really important to me that I got to be a part of that.”
Ripon High head coach Larry Keethe had a suitable resume prior to hoisting the blue banner after the Indians’ 3-0 win over Golden Sierra. Yet, a program that has a decorated history in the TVL, wanted a title like a program that has never experienced success.
Johnston led a group that was clearly deserving of breaking the slide. The two-time Bulletin All-Area MVP teamed up with Outside Hitter of the Year Cheyann DePrue and Middle Blocker of the Year Coryn Hernandez to post an undefeated league season and unblemished walk to the section crown.
The close-knit Indians did not lose a game in SJS tournament play, but did not have to go through its longtime nemesis in Christian Brothers. The Falcons moved up to the Division-III tournament, but Ripon did get to hand them an effortless 3-0 beating during a non-league regular season match.
“This group this year is one of my favorite teams I have ever been on,” Johnston said. “We were basically a family. There was never any awkwardness between anybody, everyone was always laughing with each other and getting along.
“This group had so much fun and we had great chemistry.”
Johnston will move on from her epic four-year varsity career and begin a new mission with the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters, in hopes of helping the NCAA Division II program reach the national tournament.
The playmaking setter will bring a blank canvas to the coast, in pursuit of continuing along the impressive path the Ripon High standout has began paving for herself.
“I really think that I am going to learn so much when I got to Monterey,” Johnston said. “Jody (Garry) is a great coach, and I have practiced with them one time and it was so intense.
“I know I can learn a lot from her and become a better player.”
