Depending on which route you take (Interstate 40 or 70) it is about 2,000 miles from Eastern’s campus to Vista, Calif.

This is no small drive, but for Andrea Johnson, it is a distance that she was willing to travel.

Johnson is a freshman volleyball player who recently moved from her hometown of Vista to Eastern to play volleyball.

She began her career in volleyball in eighth grade and soon developed a love for the competition of the game.

Her move to Charleston is a curious decision considering the distance, but Johnson said she and her parents took the proper steps in evaluating if the Eastern campus would be right for her.

“Me and my parents were pretty new to the volleyball world when we began looking at colleges,” Johnson said. “We probably sent over 500 letters to schools trying to find out who was interested. To be honest, I really didn’t know where (Charleston) was before we began the process of evaluating colleges.”

Johnson said she attended an official visit to the Eastern campus and immediately enjoyed the campus, but that did not stop her from looking at other colleges.

She said she was planning to take a trip to New Jersey to look at the campus of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, but she missed her flight out of a San Francisco airport to Newark, N.J. Johnson ended up spending seven hours in the San Francisco airport and had to call her brother to come down from the University of California at Berkeley to pick her up.

The missed flight to Newark was the moment Johnson new she wanted to attend Eastern.

“I saw the missed flight as a sign that I should go to EIU and try and help improve the volleyball program,” Johnson said.

Since her arrival at Eastern, Johnson has been working with the volleyball coaching staff on improving her volleyball technique and form.

She credits head coach Alan Segal for her rapid progression with the team.

In addition to getting used to playing volleyball at Eastern, Johnson has also been trying to get used to the Illinois climate, which differs from California significantly.

“The gyms in California are really hot and they make practices that are much more difficult, but living here I’m just not used to the humidity. I’m not used to living in a place where you go outside and your palms immediately start sweating,” Johnson said. “I’ve been told I’m going to die during the winter because I’ve only seen snow once in my life. I’ve heard that layers of clothing are the way to go around here, so hopefully that will keep me alive.”

Johnson said that she has high expectations for herself and the Eastern volleyball team heading into the rest of the season.

“I expect our team to compete and never give up,” she said. “We want to show the conference that we are not to be underestimated.”

Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or at jnschneider@eiu.edu.