For Westminster volleyball player Angie Johnson it was literally a mile away. It just took here two years to figure that out.

Johnson played high school volleyball at Highland High School under current Westminster coach Kim Norman.

After a stellar prep career with the Rams, she decided to travel 10 hours and 743 miles to attend Eastern Washington University and continue playing volleyball.

But that wasn't the right fit.

"It was a really small town and I didn't enjoy that," Johnson said. "My coach taught me a lot but I didn't enjoy the whole experience."

After redshirting her freshman year and playing her next year for the Division I Eagles, she decided it was time to come home.

During the time Johnson was away, her former high school coach Norman had moved from Highland to Westminster and was in her second year as the Griffins head coach when she got a phone call from her former player.

"I was thrilled when she told me she was coming home," Norman said. "Angie is a huge player for us and has been; she really helped us turn this program around here."

Johnson did not disappoint when she returned to Salt Lake.

Last season, in her second year at the school, she was named NAIA All-American honorable mention as well as being named the Frontier Conference player of the year.

A big reason she was given those accolades was the 4.57 kills per game she recorded in 2006.

This season she has picked up her offensive dominance, leading the Griffins in kills with 207.

"The best decision I ever made [was] to go back to school here," Johnson said. "I love the school, I love the professors, I love the campus, and it has been really good for me."

It has been even better for the Griffins program that is currently ranked in the top 10 of the NAIA.

Johnson is one of the five seniors on the Griffins but the team as a whole is young.

Johnson said the seniors on the teams are pushing to make the 2007 season a year to remember.

And that will not be an easy task as the Griffins are a member of the Frontier Conference, which Norman said is becoming extremely competitive.