Crowther Memorial champions of the JJJJ zone tournament

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Crowther Memorial Junior High School (CMJHS) girls’ volleyball team emerged victorious at the JJJJ zone tournament on Nov. 12-13 hosted in Strathmore.

According to team coach Jerry Flaws, the girls went undefeated in the round robin prior to the finals run, without so much as dropping a set.

The girls went on to dominate the remainder of the tournament in straight sets. Flaws said it’s something the girls have been working towards all season and are excited about the results of their work.

“It’s been a while since they’ve won a volleyball championship. They’ve been close a few times, but haven’t quite won,” he said. 

“I think offensively, we were a really talented team and then come zones, our defense caught up to our offense a little bit … we’re definitely offensively focused – we have three girls who are close to six feet, so it really helped us out.” 

According to Flaws, the team’s success this season has been variable, having won two prior tournaments, finishing second at another and yielding unimpressive results at “a couple” others. 

Speaking to the team’s weakness, Flaws explained he felt the girls need to work on their serve receives, so they don’t get served out of games going forward.

“Even the Monday before zones, George Freeman (School) came in and beat us out of our own gym,” he said.

Flaws added, however, that due to all but two of the girls on the team being in grade 9, he is looks forward to seeing them bolster the ranks of the high school team next year.

“We’re pretty excited at the high school,” he said. “With both Freeman and Crowther winning, all the talented girls will be coming up next year.”

Middle blocker Lena Johansson was named MVP through the tournament, particularly after her six-point service run in the third set of the finals. 

“We were down 8-7 when she went to serve and when she was done it was 13-8, it’s like ‘wow’ it was huge,” said Flaws.

Johansson was previously mentioned as the MVP of the George Freeman tournament which ran in October, in which the CMJHS team was also victorious. 

In that instance, Johansson was commemorated for her spikes, having hit the majority of the team’s sets that weekend.

Coming into next year, Flaws says the CMJHS team will have to take a dramatically different approach than this year.

“Next year at the Jr. High it’ll be a whole new team because 10 of the players are in Grade 9 (who) are all moving up to the high school. There will only be two returning senior players next year,” he explained.

He estimates the team will have to do a 180 with their play style and opt for a more defensive approach, as they won’t have the height advantage they enjoyed this year.