Dexter senior hitter making impact up front despite obstacle in size

After serving as an assistant coach with the program for several years before this fall, first-year Dexter High School head volleyball coach Haylee Orf knew the strengths and weaknesses of this year’s team instantaneously.

One of those weaknesses was height, and so Orf has had to figure out creative ways to utilize her hard-working, though smaller front lines.

“We’re still having a little trouble on the quick height on the blocks,” Orf said earlier this season, “but being able to place (the ball) and keep our confidence, and keeping our heads when it seems to get chaotic.”

No Bearcat player has been asked to shoulder that frontline responsibility more so than senior middle hitter Macie Templemire.

Templemire, along with seniors Katelynn Owens, Brooke Lasater, Shelby Driskill, and Brooklyn Link will be honored tonight on ‘Senior Night,’ as Dexter (16-11) hosts Perryville (10-15-1) at 7:15 p.m. at the Bearcat Event Center.

The Bearcats fell on Friday in the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament to defending champion Advance 3-0, but Orf’s team had won five matches in a row before that.

The play of Templemire, who not only can kill with some power but also has improved with her touch on “taps” to the open areas of the defense, which was evident throughout the SCAA Tournament.

“We’ve been really working on that,” Orf said, “because being a middle (hitter), she is a short middle.”

Templemire is “5-7 or 5-8” according to Orf and has had “trouble with her consistency sometimes.”

“We are learning how to be more flexible in the front,” Orf said of Templemire’s varied attacks. “I think that has given her a little more confidence.

“She likes (playing) the middle, but it is tough to get on. You have to work a lot harder to get on and off, so we’re teaching her some more variety and things that we can do to get that kill.”

Orf has said since fall camp that she wanted her team to improve as the season went on, and that is precisely what Dexter has done.

Following a 1-6 start, Dexter has won 15 of its last 20 matches. A key to that later success has been Dexter’s players being more familiar with the opposition after seeing many of its foes multiple times.

“We look at the weaknesses in the other teams,” Orf said of helping her players, like Templemire, with scouting info. “We need to make sure that we are ready for when we are hitting up against (long) blocks. Maybe we can find different spots.

“We are starting to see progress.”

The Bearcats will also host Notre Dame (21-6-3) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. before opening play in the MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 Tournament on Thursday against Doniphan (10-14-2) at 5 p.m. at the Bearcat Event Center.