Georgia Christian volleyball’s best season ever is just getting started
VALDOSTA, Ga. (BVM) — Just six years ago, Georgia Christian School didn’t have a volleyball team. Fast forward to present day, and they will be competing in their first ever Georgia state championship tournament. In a season where all of their hard work and culture building seemed to come together, the Generals are finally starting to make some noise.
Getting to this point is reputable, as it was a process. Head coach Carrie Johnson has been around volleyball her whole life, playing since 6th grade and competing collegiately at NAIA Faulkner University. However, her athletes had not. Nobody in her area of southern Georgia had as much as picked up a volleyball.
“When I moved to south Georgia, there was no volleyball anywhere. It was kind of disappointing,” Johnson said. “When my daughter got to the 6th grade, that was when I started the program. We started middle school and varsity the same year…we had to start from the ground up.”
Johnson says the focus was on basic skills. Teaching the fundamentals and teaching the game of volleyball; how those two aspects work together. But this was her preference. Instructing girls with no background allowed her to develop their skills the way she wanted; not the way any other coach had taught them in the past.
Now finally, after years of dealing with losing seasons while becoming acquainted with the game, success is starting to show itself to the Generals. This year was their first 10-win regular season, finishing with an overall mark of 10-9. This is also their first season winning a region tournament, meaning their inaugural state championship tournament appearance.
“It was insane because this whole year, there are only three teams in our region. We lost to both of them twice. Going into the region tournament, we were the third seed. We had to play the No. 2 seed to make it to the championship game (against the one seed),” Johnson said. “Before the game I said, ‘listen, the pressure is all on them. We have absolutely zero pressure, they expect nothing from us so let’s just go out there and have fun.’”
The girls responded by playing what Johnson described as, “their best volleyball all year, two matches in a row.” Now their next stop will be in Brunswick on Tuesday, where the first two rounds of the Georgia volleyball state championship tournament will take place.
Johnson and the rest of the team are eager to tackle the opportunity ahead, and if their regional tournament magic follows them to the state tournament, they could be in business. With everybody stepping up this year and accepting their role, the Generals are ready.
“My senior is one of the best players I’ve ever coached…I have an amazing 8th grader…I have a promising 7th grader…I have an outstanding middle school program ,” Johnson said. “It’s just, we grew as a team.”
