EDWARDSVILLE – A new era in Edwardsville High School girls volleyball is getting underway.
Jami Parker stepped down after 16 years as the Tigers’ coach over the summer to take the job at Triad; Lisa Orlet, who has previously coached at Belleville Althoff Catholic after playing at Incarnate Word Academy in St. Louis and at Kansas University, took over the team for this season and hopes to build on what Parker built at EHS.
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“Jami built a great program here; her record speaks for itself,” Orlet said of filling the shoes left by Parker from 2002-17. Just seeing the girls in the gym, you can see the tradition is still strong – hard work and high expectations. I’m looking forward to it.”
Orlet will have to fill many spots on this year’s edition of the Tigers, with six seniors having graduated and just one senior – Corrine Timmerman – on board for 2018. “There were six girls that played a great leadership role and brought the team to a new level,” Orlet said of the graduates who helped EHS reach the IHSA Class 4A Normal West super-sectional last season. “There are some girls here that are working hard to step into those leadership roles and also chomping at the bit to get their opportunity to play.
“We’re trying to make the transition (from Parker to Orlet) as easy as possible; we’re not changing a lot, just going and trying to refill those positions and keep the same tradition that Jami built.”
While Orlet is new to the program, she and Parker have worked together and have many of the same philosophies when it comes to volleyball. “Jami and I worked together in the past, so we are pretty similar when it comes to the higher standards of character and discipline in the gym,” Orlet said. “That’s evident; these girls are such great young women in that they put their academics first and they work really hard; they’re playing for each other and building a lot of camaraderie.
“I think that’s the biggest thing – when you lose six (seniors), you have to rebuild the team chemistry.”
The biggest thing that Orlet will bring to Edwardsville is the building of team chemistry. “The team chemistry (is the most important factor) and that we play for each other and that nobody on the team is more important than the other, down to our team managers to the coaches to the kids who are the last ones to come off the bench to the starters getting the highest stats,” Orlet said. “You have to realize that we’re nothing without each other – we create what we create in the gym and that it takes a little piece of everybody’s contributions to make the whole.
“There are definitely moments that kids will come up with that will make a season, make a game that will turn it around. That’s why I say ‘don’t ever underestimate the impact that your teammates make for the success of your program’.”
Edwardsville’s super-sectional berth from last year is something the Tigers can build on for this season, Orlet thinks. “They feel that pressure, I’m sure, a little bit to keep the winning tradition and stuff; we’re trying to reduce that and focus on everyday contacts and short-term success,” Orlet said, “not worry about long-term goals – just focus on the now and be successful every day.”
Orlet has coached the game since her college days at KU. “I’d travel around and coach at various camps,” Orlet recalled, “in New York and did some stuff at Carbondale to Washington University (in St. Louis), a lot of local stuff and I’d go to Missouri State (in Springfield, Mo.) even.”
Orlet went to Incarnate Word in St. Louis County and has coached at Althoff and has served as AD at IWA; volleyball has been an important part of Orlet’s life. “It means a lot,” Orlet said. “Having been an athletic director was fun, to be a part of various sports and relationships with the various athletes that way, but it not as much as a relationship when you’re building a program, in the trenches every day with the girls – it’s the next best thing to playing.
“You get to relive those competitive days on the sidelines still, but it’s nice to see those girls get those moments of joy where they were able to achieve more than they thought they could, more than they could as individuals; it’s fun to be able to be part of those moments.”
The Tigers open their season with the Tiger Classic tournament Labor Day weekend; 16 teams will take part in the tournament that begins Aug. 31 and concludes Sept. 1.
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