Lots of 'new' surrounding the Dexter VB program this fall

DEXTER – There will be some new faces, playing a new style, on the Dexter High School volleyball court this fall, but the excitement of first-year coach Haylee Orf is high, and the expectations to keep the program where it has been – which is incredibly successful – is not being altered in any way.

“I’m excited,” Orf said. “I’m doing things a little bit more in the way that I want to do them, and so far it has been great.”

The Bearcats will open their 2023 regular season today at Saxony Lutheran at 6:30 p.m., followed by a road test at Arcadia Valley (7 p.m. on Tuesday), before hosting Southeast Missouri-power Jackson at the Bearcat Event Center on Thursday (6:30 p.m.).

Though Orf is new in guiding the program, she isn’t new to the Dexter student-athletes or the program.

The 2007 Dexter High School graduate was once a three-sport Bearcat athlete and spent the past four seasons as an assistant to the highly successful former Bearcat coach, Starla Pulley.

“I love these girls,” Orf said. “I know them well.”

The Bearcats will look different this year, in that they don’t have a tremendous amount of length up front. That is going to require Orf to teach differently than in years past.

“First,” Orf explained, “we have to get a handle on that ball.”

Though Dexter isn’t long up front, Orf does have some athletes, notably senior Macie Templemire and junior Kate Nichols, the latter was an All-SEMO Conference selection from a year ago.

“Kate did a lot for us last year,” Orf said. “She is an all-around player, setter, and hitter. She is super consistent and has such a great work ethic and head on her shoulders.”

The next step in the Bearcats’ defensive strategy is to get to the floor and that will fall on the capable shoulders of senior libero Brooke Lasater.

“She is a great (defensive) specialist,” Orf said. “And we have a few players around her who are (also) great at defense.”

Junior Cali White will set the ball on a lot of possessions in a 6-2 rotation, and Orf hopes the players embrace and excel at the strategy so that she can rely on White and Nichols as setters for the next two seasons.

“I think we can stick with that (rotation),” Orf said, “if they keep working hard.”

Orf had a solid number of players not involved in a spring sport, so she was able to get in some workouts in May before embarking on a summer slate of games, where this new group of athletes showed a lot of promise.

“We got in an extra month of a few hours a week of practice,” Orf said, “and then worked just as hard this summer.

“It has put us in a great spot to start the season.”

The Bearcat program has strung a dozen consecutive winning seasons together, with nine of those seasons achieving at least 20 wins.

Orf has 24 girls in the program this year, which includes five seniors (Shelby Driskill, Lasater, Brooklyn Link, Katelynn Owens, and Templemire).