Dexter beats Advance to capture SCAA Tournament for first time since 2021

Members of the Dexter Lady Bearcats volleyball team celebrate a point during Friday's Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament championship against Advance at Woodland High School in Marble Hill.

Dexter Statesman/Mike Buhler

MARBLE HILL — Friday's Stoddard County Activities Association Tournament championship volleyball match between the Dexter Lady Bearcats and Advance Lady Hornets might have turned on one key stretch in the third set.

With two-time defending tournament champion Advance ahead 10-9, a Klaire Essner kill ignited a 6-0 Lady Bearcats run to take the set — and ultimately take a 25-18, 18-25, 25-15, 25-20 win and their first SCAA tourney title since 2021.

“I'm extremely proud of them,” Dexter coach Haylee Orf said. “We knew Advance would be ready to defend and be ready to battle, and they definitely did. They're great team and well-coached, like I've said before, and I feel like our girls kept their head. … Once they hit, they attack, they use those seams well and come together — and everybody does their job. They're a pretty strong team, so I'm very excited for them. They've been wanting that title back for a few years.”

Dexter senior Kate Nichols was excited as well.

“It's awesome, especially for us (as) seniors,” Nichols said. “I've never won a county championship with them, so I think it's really special to go out with them and win a county championship.”

Setter Cali White echoed her classmate's sentiments.

“(Kate) just said it all,” White said. “We're seniors. We got to do it all together this year, and we haven't won in a while. It just felt really nice.”

So what advice did Orf have for her squad ahead of that key stretch in the third set?

“I said, 'Girls, you've got to come back to that calm place, that quiet place, and remember how bad you want this — and how bad you you fought for this over the past few years and definitely the past few months,'” Orf said. “'And you've got to remember how bad you want it, and you've got to remember where you get that fire.' And I think once they learned to calm their heart rates down and stay calm and confident — and come back to that place of energy and just believing they can get it done and knowing how bad they want to get it done — I felt like things came together a lot better.”

With the score tied 9-9 in the fourth set, Dexter (22-3-1) used a 7-1 run to take a 16-10 lead it never relinquished the rest of the way to close out the set — and the match.

“I thought it was a great battle,” Advance coach Erin Hoffman said of Friday's contest. “My girls had a lot of fun. I saw some great things out of some of the girls and it gave us a chance to really test our defense. And I thought it was a great match.”

Nichols paced the Lady Bearcats with 15 kills, while Essner added 12 and Mauriona Menley had five kills and four blocks. Essner and Karis Kennedy each had three blocks, while White added 35 assists and Avery Riley had seven digs.

For Advance (18-10-2), Addison Carlton had 15 kills, 23 digs and a pair of aces, while Emma Eilers added 10 kills, 11 digs and three aces, Cashlynn Sturgron had seven kills and Olivia Kennedy had five kills, two aces and three blocks. Ava Bowling added 18 digs and three blocks, while Brogan Hawkins had 12 digs and Kyndall Hitt had 35 assists.

The Lady Hornets wrap up the regular season Monday at Scott City.

“I really like the way that our schedule set up,” Hoffman said. “Last weekend we had the Jackson tournament, and we knew that we could have possibly lost every game. We knew every game (there) was going to be really tough, and we had to play super-hard. And then SCAA is one of the best conferences around, so you know you're going to have a lot of tough games there — (and) I like having those towards the end of season to help prepare for postseason.”

Dexter heads to Perryville on Monday and is at Notre Dame on Wednesday to close the regular season.

“It's an amazing group of girls,” Orf said. “The chemistry is just incredible. It's hard to find an entire group all the way through with great attitudes that want to come in every day, work and have great attitudes on a Friday afternoon practice without me having to say anything. And I feel like that's special and they're continuing that. We've had a lot of fun and I'm excited to see how they finish, because they definitely deserve a strong finish.”