Dexter VB 'keeping the pedal down' through busy week

Second-year Dexter High School volleyball coach Haylee Orf instructs her team during a timeout in a recent match against Saxony Lutheran at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

The pace is getting harried for the Dexter High School volleyball squad, as it could play as many as five matches this week in a four-day stretch.

“These games mean a little bit,” second-year Bearcat coach Haylee Orf said of this stretch, “but the end means everything.”

The Bearcats improved to 13-2-1 on Monday with a 3-0 home victory over Bloomfield and will visit the defending MSHSAA Class 1 state champion (five of the past six seasons) Advance today at 7 p.m.

Dexter has won five consecutive matches.

Those matches set Orf’s team up for the SEMO Conference Tournament on Thursday at the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex.

No. 2-seed Dexter will open that tournament at 3:45 p.m. against the winner of No. 7-seed Scott City (7-4-2) and No. 10-seed Sikeston (3-12), which will be played at 3 p.m.

The Bearcats are amid their most successful start since 2014, a season in which the program won 29 games and advanced to the MSHSAA Class 3 State Finals.

“We are trying to steer clear of where we are (history-wise),” Orf said of the success. “We’ve got to keep the pedal down at this point.

“I’m trying not to let the girls get too comfortable.”

Young Sikeston shows 'glimpses,' but (very) tough Dexter is just too much

Tom Davis

DEXTER -- There were flashes throughout Sikeston's three-set volleyball loss at Dexter recently in which the (very) young Bulldogs showed their potential. However, in the end, the host Bearcats demonstrated their ability and experience and won easily 25-14, 25-12, 25-12 at the Bearcat Event Center.

Comfort can be a hazardous thing for any team, Dexter included.

The Bearcats recently battled at Class 2 Woodland (8-9) and nearly endured their third defeat.

The Cardinals took Dexter to five sets before falling 3-2.

“Our girls were a little (surprised) by how well Woodland came out,” Orf said. “They came out strong.”

Orf said the length of Woodland up front was tough to match up with given that Dexter has just one lengthy hitter/blocker up front, in six-foot sophomore Mauriona Menley.

“Woodland had quite a bit of height than we did on the front line,” Orf said. “We don’t have a ton of height, and we were a little mismatched.

“They kept putting the ball wide and we couldn’t close our blocks well super wide on the outside.”

Orf said her girls “were playing a little tense,” but Dexter eventually recovered, in part due to the outstanding play of senior Kate Nichols, who tallied 28 kills, according to Orf.

“We were jumping with a lot of our passes,” Orf continued. “There was a little bit of miscommunication on the serve receive. We were seeing things that we don’t see a whole lot on our side of the court.

“But at the same time, we were doing a whole lot of good stuff.”

If the Bearcats win their initial SEMO Conference Tournament match, they could advance to face No. 3-seed Cape Central (4:30 p.m.) for the second time this season.

Dexter topped the Tigers (15-4-1) in three straight sets three weeks ago.

“The season is really just now getting going and working towards what we really want to work towards,” Orf said. “We’ve got to keep our foot down.”