November 16, 2008
Co-players of the year: Heil, Satterfield shine on the court
DEXTER -- On the night's that volleyball was played at Dexter high school this past season, the home crowd that piled into the gymnasium usually saw more than just a match from their Lady Bearcats. They saw a tandem around the net that could equally strike a ball with raw power at will. They saw a pair of players that did anything they could for a win. They saw a duo that did everything for the good of the team...
DEXTER -- On the night's that volleyball was played at Dexter high school this past season, the home crowd that piled into the gymnasium usually saw more than just a match from their Lady Bearcats.
They saw a tandem around the net that could equally strike a ball with raw power at will. They saw a pair of players that did anything they could for a win. They saw a duo that did everything for the good of the team.
They saw leaders.
They saw the Standard Democrat's Volleyball Co-Players of the Year Award winners; Cathryn Heil and Jessica Satterfield.
Heil and Satterfield, both seniors, were the prototypical dynamic duo on the floor for the Lady Bearcats. They each had the uncanny ability to place a powerful strike anywhere they wanted or set up a fellow teammate for an easy score.
Like every other dynamic duo, they always seemed to know what was going on in each others heads.
"We had those moments where we just knew what each other was thinking," Heil said. "We were just with each other all the time. It was wonderful. I absolutely loved having her out there with me."
In the 2008 volleyball season, the two seniors led the Lady Bearcats finished with a record of 22-7-3 and won their conference championship over one of the region's best teams in the Bell City Lady Cubs.
"There were ups and downs, but I definitely thought we had a very successful season," Heil said. "We had some minor glitches against Scott City and Bell City which are two really good teams and we came back and played really well against Bell City the second time."
In the conference championship game, Heil and Satterfield each played their role as they did every other night on the court.
Mixing in their ability to put points on the board and creating opportunities for others to score, Heil finished with a game-high 13 assists, eight digs and six kills. Satterfield tallied 11 kills, nine assists and seven digs to claim the Stoddard County Conference championship.
"I thought we had a really good season," Satterfield said. "Besides tournament play, we didn't have that many losses. We played very good teams that we lost to. I'm really happy with the way the season went."
Heil and Satterfield have not only been teammates on the Lady Bearcats volleyball squad, but they have also been very close friends. Which they both agreed that sharing the title of Co-Player of the Year makes it even more special for them.
"I wouldn't have changed it for anything," Heil said. "I loved having her on the floor with me."
"She's just like my sister," Satterfield said. "We know everything about each other. It was so much fun to play out there with her."
Their friendship off the court certainly helped when they stepped on the court.
"I knew everywhere she was going to go and I knew where to set her because we've played together for so long," Satterfield said. "It was nice having someone that you could connect with and play with as teammates."
Satterfield considered Heil as the leader of the team. She said that Heil was the one you would get the rest of the Lady Bearcats ready for a game.
Heil thought that Satterfield was the playmaker of the team. She said that Satterfield would always hustle for the ball no matter where it ended up and somehow come up with an amazing dig to really spark the team's morale.
"No matter where the ball is at, Jessica is going to go get it," Heil said. "She manages to get to it somehow. She has those crazy digs where I would say 'I can't believe she just did that.' I think that it's awesome that she never gives up on it."
Numerous times Heil was that one player on the floor that would start a scoring rally for the Lady Bearcats.
As for Satterfield, she would be the one with a diving play on the ball or come up with a big point to swing everything in the Lady Bearcats way.
In particular in a game against the New Madrid County Central Lady Eagles in Oct., NMCC began the match with six straight points which they used an 11-4 lead early in the first set. But the next point came off of a Satterfield kill that she tipped just slightly over the net in between the Lady Eagles defense.
The Satterfield point, along with three kills from Heil started a Dexter rally that brought them to a tie and then, eventually, a permanent lead to take the first set. Heil closed out the game with five of their last 10 points from her serving, while Satterfield added three kills including the game winner.
Another case was against the Bernie Lady Mules in Sept.
The Lady Mules stormed out of the gate with an early lead that Dexter would eventually crawl back from.
After coming back and making it an 11-12 game in favor of Bernie, the Lady Bearcats took control of the game with Heil leading the charge.
She scored five straight points for Dexter including the tying and go-ahead points which gave the Lady Bearcats a permanent lead for the rest of the night.
Dexter won in straight sets with a 25-17 win in the first set and a 25-12 in the second.
"She really led our team with excitement," Satterfield said. "She would always seem to make some amazing play that would get the momentum always going for our team."
Unfortunately for the Lady Bearcats next season, they will not have the benefits of the Heil-Satterfield connection.
But, if ever Dexter volleyball is the topic of conversation, those two names will always be linked as a duo that the hometown crowd saw.
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