Kishwaukee volleyball player Mackenzie Johnson felt aches and pains in her back during her freshman season, but she didn’t know that she had a potentially career-ending injury until one pain-filled practice before her sophomore season earlier this year.

Johnson went up for a hit in a routine practice drill when she felt the excruciating pain in her lower back, and when she came down, she keeled over. Johnson tried to get back up, but she couldn’t, so she crawled off the court and sat in the bleachers at the DeKalb gym, where the Cougars practiced during the summer.

“I couldn’t stand up,” Johnson said. “[The trainier at DeKalb] said, ‘Yeah, you definitely need to get that checked out.’ ”