STARKVILLE — “Tournament.”

The word occupies Jazmyne Johnson’s thoughts every day. That shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who knows the history of the Mississippi State volleyball. Started in 1975, the program recorded only eight winning seasons up until the 2015 season, when new head coach David McFatrich came over from Central Arkansas with the goal to reverse the Bulldogs’ fortunes.

Johnson, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State, also arrived in Starkville for the 2015 season. It didn’t take long for the 6-foot-1 standout to make an impression and to become a team leader. In the process, she played an integral role in helping MSU finish 17-15 for its first winning season since 2006.

But Johnson wants more.

You can tell Johnson feels that way by how she talks about four or five matches she felt MSU should have won last season. You can hear it in the way MSU junior Payton Harris talks about Johnson. More importantly, you can hear it in the MSU’s offseason workouts because Johnson isn’t going to let the Bulldogs be satisfied unless they make history this season and advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.

“I probably shocked all of the girls when I did that because normally it is just ‘Dawgs,’ ” Johnson said of the word the players use to break their huddle. “But it is a new tradition. We have to start shaking things up. We have to start turning things around. If it has to start with one little word, I am fine with that.”

Johnson said she used the word “tournament” to end a workout for the first time last week at the Shira Complex. While she credits the seniors on the 2015 team for helping MSU beat Ole Miss twice and pushing the program to its most victories in the Southeastern Conference (six) since 2011.

‘Breakthrough’ season

Johnson wants to build on a “breakthrough” season in which she started as a right-side hitter, moved to middle blocker, moved back to the right side, and then moved back to the middle. Despite the changes, Johnson finished fourth on the team in kills (193) and led regulars in hitting percentage (.267), solo blocks (16) and total blocks (89). She said the confidence gained from becoming an impact player in the middle is motivating her to be a louder voice and someone who sets the example for her teammates.

“(Making the NCAA tournament) means a lot to me, not just because I am a senior, but because I want to be a part of history,” Johnson said. “In one of our open gyms, one of our transfers hit one ball and I started laughing and I was like, ‘We are fixin’ to be the first team in Mississippi State history to go to the tournament.”

Johnson said the way the team closed the 2015 season coupled with the pieces it added for this season and the chemistry the players have established have created a wave of momentum that will carry everyone to Friday, the day the team reports for training camp. The team will hold its first practice Saturday. MSU will open the season at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, against Kansas in the Bulldog Invitational at the Newell-Grissom Building. Kansas finished 30-3 last season and lost in the national semifinals.

“Not only do we have the missing pieces, but the chemistry on and off the court is day and night compared to last year,” Johnson said. “That has a lot to do with the different personalities we have and the different personalities coach McFatrich has recruited.”

McFatrich shares Johnson’s optimism because he saw how she matured from someone who hated the thought of playing middle blocker to someone who accepted the position change and blossomed in her new home. McFatrich said Johnson had the physical tools to play the position, but now he sees a player who has the confidence to kick butt doing it.

“Physically, she just gets up and bangs. That is what I want,” McFatrich said. “The other part of it, I have never played here before, I am in the SEC, I have six against me, now she has done it for a year. What I will tell her is, get ready, we’re going to you.”

Johnson figures to team with senior Evie Grace Singleton, who led the team in kills (378) last season, and senior Chelsea Duhs (third in kills, 221). The addition of junior transfer Jelena Vujcin, a 6-3 opposite hitter/middle blocker, should bolster the attack, while Harris, who led the team with 434 digs last season, should help anchor the team at libero/defensive specialist.

Trust in Johnson

While MSU appears to have the pieces to make a run at history, Harris said the Bulldogs also have the trust in Johnson to knows what they can

accomplish.

“Jazmyne always has been a natural leader for us,” Harris said. “Coming into a new squad, especially her junior year, a lot of people would step back and try to fit their way in a be a little quiet. That is normal for transfers. But Jaz just came in and took the reins. She knew what she wanted and what this team was capable of. She pushed us every day to get there.

“Having to change positions in the middle of the year was eye-opening for the rest of us to see how truly dedicated she was to this team. She had never played middle before. She came in and she just took off and probably was one of if not the top middles. That pushed our other middles to work harder. That is what we need. We need someone who can go out there and push us to be better. She is not playing my position, but she pushes me to be better every day. Without her, I don’t know where we would be.”

Johnson laughs at the ups and downs she had moving between positions last season. She said her heart “dropped” when McFatrich told her he was going to move her to the middle because she thought middle blockers work too hard and do so much for absolutely nothing. She acknowledged at times she took “baby steps” in building the confidence she needed to know she could compete against bigger, more experienced players in the middle, especially when MSU entered SEC play. That’s why she stayed in the gym and practiced extra so she could develop the mind-set she needed to let her natural skills take over. After McFatrich talked to her and told her he was moving her back to middle, she realized that was the position she needed to play, and that is why she was at MSU.

Now, she feels more confident because she knows her teammates have her back.

“When she is up in middle, it is like a sigh of relief because I know Jaz is going to get there for the block,” Harris said. “I know she is going to put up a solid block, and I know she is going to work her butt off to get back there and attack the ball.

“We never doubted her. We always had her back. She is a monster.”

Impact performer

McFatrich, who directed Central Arkansas to NCAA tournament appearances in two of his four seasons as head coach, agrees. He said Johnson became the team’s best middle after about six swings. Still, it was a difficult decision to make to move her from right-side hitter and then move her again because she is a dominant performer on that side of the court.

“She is the best right-side blocker I have ever coached,” McFatrich said. “She is Mrs. Lockdown over there. That plays into the decision. What do we do? Do we leave her as Mrs. Lockdown on the right or do we pack the punch in the middle and we are in one of the toughest leagues in America? That is one of the questions we had to answer.

“Blocking is a great skill that correlates to winning, but nowhere near get up and bang, so we were like, we can spot switch some and you are going to go over and block on the right and whoever is on the right, you are going to go into the middle.”

McFatrich plans to continue to use that strategy this season. He is eager to get started, too, because he knows the potential of the 2016 team. He also recognizes Johnson has the fire to take on the challenge of being a go-to player who helps the program make history.

“I am expecting big things from her this year,” McFatrich said. “If you just got blocked, so what. We are going to set you again right now. You are going to have the highest hitting percentage on the team because the chances of you putting the next ball away are even greater. If you get blocked again? So what. It is 2-0. We are coming back to you again and again. That is where our success is. I think she is going to kill it.”

Johnson said better team chemistry and a better understanding of the importance of communication between players will help MSU realize its goal. Last season, she said the team had a lot of individuals who were afraid to say something to one of their teammates because of their personalities. That shouldn’t be the case this season because Johnson plans to keep everyone focused on one thing. In fact, Johnson said she is so confident about MSU making the NCAA tournament this season that she made a note in her phone late last month to mark the date so she could post it when the goal was realized.

“People say, ‘Oh, you don’t want to look long term,’ but that is our goal,” Johnson said. “It is like when you’re going up the stairs, each step you take can have a word on it, or each step is a game for us. At the top is the NCAA tournament.

“I tell Fatch. I tell the whole team. I will tell anybody. We are going to be the first team in the history of Mississippi State volleyball to go to the NCAA tournament.”

Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor

Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.