Dexter falls to Jackson in home opener

“We are starting with a tough week this week,” said Dexter coach Haylee Orf. “Being under matched in that front row, seeing four of out toughest teams all in one wack wack wack right out of the gate. It has been really tough.”

Orf's Lady Bearcat squad dropped to 0-3, falling to three of the better teams in Southeast Missouri, Saxony Lutheran, Arcadia Valley and Jackson with Cape Central on deck Tuesday at Cape. On Thursday evening the Jackson Lady Indians spoiled Orf's home debut as the Bearcats head coach with a three set 25-11, 25-9, 25-20 victory.

Jackson jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first set when an ace by Dexter's Katelyn Owens closed the gap to 3-2. Jackson then went on a 12-0 run before the Lady Bearcats could break the Lady Indians scoring streak to make it 15-4. Orf took a timeout to try and calm her team but Jackson kept the pressure on with a 3-0 run to make it 18-5 following the timeout. Dexter battled but could not overcome the deficit falling 25-11 in the first set.

“We have really been working on watching game tape, seeing how we can start to mimic these things we are seeing from these big quick girls in front and seeing what we can change,” said Orf. “A lot of these girls think they are doing certain things that we talk about when you watch that tape and watch replays and really break it down I think visually they were able to see that we weren't.”

“(We) are starting to work a lot more on our rotational defenses and knowing how to adjust as a unit and starting to work more on our block work because we have got to get a hand on the ball in order for our defense to be able to play those,” Orf continued. “So that mismatch is tough on us this year but I have a great group, they have got great chemistry. We have been doing a lot of heart to heart life lessons. Keep their eyes and hearts up and keep their minds focused on what's really important.” We are trying trying to keep the peace about these first few losses because we have a lot of season left and I think that is the beauty of playing these great teams in the beginning

In the second set the Lady Indians kept the pressure on and Dexter struggled to get into a rhythm. Jackson raced out to a 12-4 lead highlighted by aces from Holland Guilliams and Katy St John.

The Lady Indians never let Dexter get on track as they won the second set 25-9.

“It's always a tough battle when we come down here to play Dexter,” said Jackson coach Dave Mirly. “The teams since I have been in Jackson have not played great in this facility so it was great to see us come out and dictate the tempo of the first two sets.”

“Our net play is going to be very strong this year,” continued Mirly. “We have a lot of really good hitters. Basically everyone I put out there is a great hitter for us. We were able to block tonight, do a really good job with that also. Our defense has always been really good, our service we need to improve on that but we will keep working on that every single day. But all aspects of our game tonight I was pleased with.”

The Lady Bearcats battles back in the third set jumping out to a 6-4 lead. The two teams then traded a flurry of points with Jackson taking a 15-14 lead. Dexter's Shelby Driskill then brought the Dexter crowd to its feet running out bounds away from the court and playing a ball on the run backwards over her head. The ball clipped the top of the net and dropped in for a point leveling the game at 15. Jackson took the crowd back out of the game going on a 5-0 run to make it 20-15. Dexter sliced the lead to 20-16 when Jackson's St. John recorded an kill followed by an ace to make it 22-16. A Dexter rally came up short and Jackson put away the third set 25-20 and with it the match.

“We just didn't talk very well,” said Mirly of the third set. “We tried a little bit new line up just to see how we would talk and react to it but we just didn't communicate very well.”

Mirly said his team ran out of subs in the third set and the six players on the floor had to finish the set.

“They did a good job once they realized they were the only six left to play in the game,” said Mirly. “The game was only half over so they knew they had to talk. They started communicating better and we went on a little serving run. We missed a lot of serves tonight which was a little frustrating. We did a lot of other things really well to make up for that.”

“It is a fun game every time, especially when when we can get our girls to just learn just to not quit,” said Orf of the effort. “I tell them keep a smile on your face you know these little errors, we keep it (errors) at one, that's what is important. It's not what happens its how you react, Its how we come back from that and what happens next.”

“We are trying trying to keep the peace about these first few losses,” said Orf. “Because we have a lot of season left and I think that is the beauty of playing these great teams in the beginning with this mismatch because I think we really can see, make giant lists of things we thought we were doing a little better. But when we see teams like that, we see we have a whole lot more work to do. We are just going to keep taking a look at defensive shifts, how we can get a hand on that ball to turn it into a play for ourselves and try to keep our peace and calmness and patience as we try to get to our best volleyball in October.”

Dexter will travel to Cape Central Tuesday and Jackson will visit Poplar Bluff also on Tuesday.