New Dexter VB coach brings energy, knowledge to challenging start

DEXTER – The 2023 volleyball season has gotten off to a challenging start for the Dexter High School program, and with Southeast Missouri area power Jackson visiting the Bearcat Event Center this evening (6:30 p.m.), the tests are going to get tougher before they get easier. However, first-year Bearcat coach Haylee Orf has been in the profession – even though it has been as an assistant – long enough to know she needs to maintain a positive energy through any adversity.

“I’m excited,” Orf said recently.

She should be.

Orf has worked to prepare herself for this moment since graduating from Dexter in 2007, and there aren’t many volleyball programs in this state with the tradition of success that Dexter carries with it.

“I have a strong passion for athletics and just what it does for you in life,” Orf said.

She knows about adversity in sports, so through the tough times, her experience will be an asset to the Bearcat student-athletes.

“My coaches made a huge impact on me growing up,” Orf continued. “They were the ones who got me through all of the tough times. They taught me how to push through all of the adversity in life.

“I knew that I wanted to do that for other girls.”

Orf was a three-sport athlete at Dexter, but suffered a knee injury during her career, which taught her about “tough times.”

“I blew out my knee really badly during my junior year,” Orf said. “I got a bad read and that cost me a couple of seasons.”

She attended Missouri State, where she studied physical education, knowing her interest was in coaching. However, she initially thought “basketball (coaching) was going to be my career, but I always loved volleyball.”

After teaching in Springfield for several years, she and her husband got an opportunity to come back home and she jumped on it.

“I need (coaching) in my life,” Orf said, “and hopefully, I can change other people’s lives for the better.”

Early in her Dexter tenure, Orf coached both basketball and volleyball, but she “followed my gut,” and stuck with volleyball while serving four years as an assistant under the highly successful Bearcat coach, Starla Pulley.

“I love these girls,” Orf said. “I know how they take (coaching) and what their weaknesses and strengths are.”

The Bearcats opened the season with a 3-0 loss at another regional power, Saxony Lutheran, and fell 3-1 at Arcadia Valley, which has gotten off to a strong 2-0 start this fall.

“We don’t have a lot of height this year,” Orf said. “But we have been working hard on our agility and plyometrics.”

Tonight’s game will be the home opener for Dexter before Orf’s girls get back on the road on Tuesday at Cape Central (6:30 p.m.).