New Colquitt County coach Sarah Fowler decides to let Packer volleyball players see what they do when a ball hits the net in play.

MOULTRIE – Colquitt County High volleyball certainly would have been thrilled with five victories in its debut season.

How long it will take to see Packer volleyball reach that win mark – or become a region champion – now falls in the hands of new coaches. The husband and wife team of Ron and Sarah Fowler, after leading the program at Jackson County High School, moved down to Moultrie with the experience of turning a program around and making it successful at the state level.

The difference between what the Fowlers found at Jackson County and Colquitt County is that Jackson was already an established volleyball program with players who arrived with extensive club experience and exclusively dedicated themselves to the sport. At Colquitt County High, they have Packers who are playing the game for the first time.

“We coached (at Jackson County) for two years,” said Ron Fowler. “When we first got there, the team had five wins the previous season. The first season there, we took the team to 19 wins. This past year we had a school record 33 wins, the first area championship in 21 years and an Elite 8 appearance (losing to 3A champion Pace Academy).

“After the season, we noticed there was an opening. Anytime there’s an opening at Colquitt County, you at least put in for it. We were fortunate. Coach (Greg) Tillery gave us a call back almost instantly. It’s been an ongoing process since then.”

Ron Fowler himself has southwest Georgia roots as a Bainbridge High graduate. His involvement in volleyball only goes back five years, and it started with Sarah, a former player. He coached baseball, but in order to spend more time with her he helped out at volleyball practices

As for the Jackson County turnaround in volleyball fortunes, he said it started with fundamental work.

“There were good players there,” said Fowler. “They bought into what we were trying to do. That’s half your battle right there.

“As long as you can pass well on serve/receive, and serve well, you greatly increase your chances of winning. This game for the most part will be won by the better serving team and who passes better. All the flashy stuff is great, but as long as we take care of those two fundamental basics, we will be fine.”

That brings the narrative to Colquitt County High, which began volleyball last fall and won one match during an abbreviated varsity schedule. That’s going to increase this year starting Aug. 9 at Thomas County-Central. Players who made up that first team mostly were first-time participants but were a part of the Packer athletic program in such sports as basketball, soccer and swimming.

“They’ve already set their goals higher,” said Fowler. Tryouts took place in June, one round being before the Fowlers arrived. In the second round, Ron said 15 to 16 more girls took part. So Colquitt will field a junior varsity team that will play the same dates as varsity, and there are 28 girls in the program overall.

The Fowlers know that’s a low number, especially for a school in Class 7A, but they want to see that grow to the point where they also can field a 9th grade team.

“Club ball is very big (in and around Jackson County),” said Fowler. “A lot of our girls were just volleyball players only. In the offseason they would go play club ball.

“Around here, I know Tallahassee and Lee County have club teams, but volleyball is still pretty new to southwest Georgia. I think it will grow quickly. It’s just a matter of getting girls enjoying the game. It’s going to be offseason work and getting better at fundamentals. As long as they are enjoying it, I think we have a good starting point.”

And what Fowler said they found at Colquitt County is a willingness to learn volleyball. In the four weeks of summer workouts at C.A. Gray, he said the girls asked good questions about the basic rules.

“It’s hard to play a game if you don’t know the rules,” he said. “We devoted a lot of time to just teaching the rules. Some didn’t know you couldn’t touch (the ball) twice in a row, what the antennas mean, the attack line, how rotations work. The big thing is making sure they are on the right spot on the court and go from there.”

The Packers will have an immediate chance to apply these new lessons like rotations when they scrimmage at Thomas County-Central today.

“We have some very good athletes,” said Fowler. “Our athletes are a lot more well-rounded. They play other sports, which I’ve always been a fan of. We have some height here we didn’t have in north Georgia. This offseason we are going to devote a lot of time getting middle school programs going where we can work with them. That way we’re not starting at square one when they get to the 9th grade.”

To start off the 2018 season, the Packers will play at Lee County Aug. 14 and at home for the first time against Mitchell County Aug. 16. Early County, Valwood and Thomasville are also on the schedule.

“I’ve watched film on Camden County,” said Fowler about one of the three 1-7A foes Colquitt will see often. “They are very experienced and have a lot of height. I’ve seen Tift County some. I think competition-wise it’s going to be a tough region. That will be good, because the end result is always to get ready for playoffs.”

Sarah Fowler is from Oconee County and played volleyball at North Oconee High. Ron said Sarah’s father established middle school volleyball in Oconee, and it made a huge difference in the development of their high school teams.