Dexter VB aims to 'finish strong' through another winning season

First-year Dexter High School volleyball coach Haylee Orf said at the beginning of the 2023 season that she wanted her team to improve as the fall went on, and to be playing its best volleyball at the end of the season.

The former has absolutely unfolded exactly how Orf envisioned, however, the latter remains to be seen if that comes to fruition.

The No. 4-seed Bearcats (16-13) will open their postseason today at the Bearcat Event Center at 5 p.m., as they host No. 5-seed Doniphan (11-15-2) in the opening game of the MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 tournament.

“We’ve got to finish strong,” Orf said of this season. “I think the girls are trying to finish strong like we planned on the whole season.

“I’m still excited for the finish.”

Dexter dropped its first four matches of the season and 6 of its initial 7 games. However, Orf got her team to keep working as it won 9 of the next 10 matches, and ultimately, closed the season with a 15-7 mark over 22 matches.

“My girls have done a much better job of maintaining composure,” Orf said during the recent Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament. “They are playing more composed and not being affected and controlled by emotions, but more by strategy.”

The Bearcats, which have now strung together 13 consecutive winning seasons, enter the postseason having lost three consecutive matches, which followed a five-game win streak, however, the competition has to be taken into consideration for that recent skid.

Dexter fell 3-0 to perennial power Advance in the SCAA Tournament championship and 3-1 to a 12-win Perryville squad.

Orf’s group dropped its regular-season finale on Wednesday to Notre Dame, which has won 23 games this season, but the coach has seen confidence building within her team this year.

“These girls are doing some things that they have never done before,” Orf said. “I think they are getting excited. They are shocking themselves, which was the mission at the beginning of the year.

“We have had to get into the layers that surprise yourselves. You have to work to get there. Be calm, confident, and think strategy over emotion.”

The Bulldogs (23-6-3) are the top seed and earned a bye in District play. They will face the winner of Dexter Doniphan on Monday at 5 p.m.

No. 3-seed Fredericktown (22-6-2) will face No. 6-seed Kennett (10-13-4) today at 6:30 p.m. The winner of that match will move on to play No. 2-seed Saxony Lutheran (22-7-2) on Monday at 6:30 p.m.

The championship match will be on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

All games will be at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter.