REINBECK — It doesn’t take much searching to find ties between the 2018 Gladbrook-Reinbeck volleyball state qualifying team and the only other Rebel qualifiers from 1988.

The most glaring similarity is head coach Paula Kelley, who was on that state runner-up squad in 1988 when she was Paula Petersen. Not only has Kelley brought her alma mater back to the state scene, she did it in almost the same fashion as her coach, Terri Luehring, did.

Luehring led the Rebel girls to the regional finals in 1987, before Gladbrook and Reinbeck had officially combined as schools, then a year later Luehring had G-R in the state tournament.

Kelley took the program over in 2017, immediately leading the team to a 23-win season after five straight years of losing records. A year later and Kelley now has her team into the state tournament.

Kelley said 30 years later Luehring is still a big part of why the team is experiencing success.

“Last year coming in and starting a brand new program, the kids didn’t know [assistant coach Chris Kuehl] and I, so what I did for camp was every day for four days I brought in a coach that went to state, and Terri was one of them,” Kelley said. “We brought them in so the kids could see at this level of a program, if you want to get to state this is what you needed to do.”

Luehring was in attendance last Tuesday when the Rebels took down Ar-We-Va in the regional finals to earn their first trip to state in 30 years, and she said it was incredible to see the girls achieve such a feat.

“It was exciting, they make me nervous but they played really well and things went their way,” Luehring said. “They have a purpose and that’s a good thing.”

The relationship between the two state-qualifying coaches only scratches the surface of how much the 1988 and 2018 squads are alike.

Cynthia Eggers, who was Cynthia Busch back in 1988, was named to the 1A all-tournament team in the first state trip, and now her daughter, Justina, is a senior starter who is a big reason why the Rebels are making their second trip to state.

Justina said her mother’s love for the game was why she wanted to play.

“She just loved it so much, she was a middle [hitter] and I remember her telling me that they called her ‘Animal’ because she hit it right in front of the 10-foot line once, and that was her nickname since,” Justina said. “I just thought that was awesome, I loved it.”

Cynthia recalled that it was another girl who gave her that nickname, and it was solidified at the state tournament.

“It came from one of the setters because every time she was able to set it to me I was able to place the ball anywhere,” Cynthia said. “We went to the state tournament and I put it down a few times on the 10-foot line and it just kind of stuck. She had that for me all season long but that kind of came out at the state tournament too.”

With that legacy of great play in her past, it’s no wonder Justina grew up wanting to be like her mom.

“As she was growing up I talked about volleyball all the time and she kept saying, ‘this is my favorite sport,’ and I would go, ‘well how do you know, you haven’t played it yet,'” Cynthia said. “She started out at a younger age and grew to love it as much as I did and it really made my heart happy for her to love it just as much as me.”

“If she wouldn’t have done it I probably wouldn’t have been as interested or tried as hard as I have through the years,” Justina said.

It was after the regional semifinal win, a dominant showing for the Rebels against rival North Tama who had beaten G-R three times already this season, that Justina said Cynthia was most excited.

“She was very proud, after the North Tama game she came down crying and I wasn’t even crying yet, so it was really tied to her heart,” Justina said. “I think it’s awesome that we are going to state now 30 years later. I just hugged her after the last game and I started bawling. I didn’t cry at any other time except for when I hugged her. I was so emotional.”

“My body was shaking and after the second game I was just thinking, ‘oh my gosh, maybe we do have this!'” Cynthia said of her experience in the win over the Redhawks. “With it going back and forth it was really close in that third game and I knew how much North Tama wanted it too but I guess we wanted it more. I thought maybe it would be over for them after that match, but now that it wasn’t we all thought, ‘oh my gosh, we can go further than maybe they believed that they could.'”

Not only is Cynthia witnessing her daughter qualify for state for the team she played for, she gets to watch a former teammate in Kelley coach them the whole way.

“I feel like it’s just family out there coaching her and being a part of it. I just remember when we played as a team we were a family, our whole team could talk to each other and we could do anything,” Cynthia said. “When I see Paula out there it reminds me of that volleyball family we had 30 years ago and she is just on the other end of it now coaching my daughter. It’s a good feeling knowing she’s very smart in how she coaches and I am glad that Justina was able to have her as a coach.”

Luehring also had a hand in Justina’s development, as well as the rest of the current G-R seniors.

“My assistant Marcia [Koester] and I went back for one year and coached junior high volleyball together, and that was when these current seniors were eighth-graders,” Luehring said. “We’ve had a piece of them as well and it’s really fun to see those seniors come together.

“I just knew that they could be successful if they worked together and played together and didn’t play as individuals but played as team members, and I think that’s where they’ve gotten to.”

Cynthia said her daughter and the rest of the seniors getting that experience with Luehring, even for just a year, set them on the right path.

“It was a good, solid base I think as they began to go through their high school years,” Cynthia said. “Terri does a great job of bringing them together as a team just like I see Paula doing too. She builds up those team relationships and how it’s important to be that family and work together for that same goal.”

That style of coaching is what Kelley said she relied on to bring the program back to where it was in the past.

“I knew what it takes to get there, I knew what it took. I knew what my coach did with us and for those two years being G-R we had to work really hard,” Kelley said. “And not just in skill-wise, we had to work to come together, and that was probably the hardest thing my coach had to do was get two separate programs and blend them together. For [coach Kuehl] and I to come in and start getting the kids to blend — where in the past they didn’t blend so well, they just played the game — I think I took a lot from my head coach in Terri Luehring and assistant coach in Marcia Koester, having to get them to build. Chris and I have done the same thing, really getting those kids to blend together and just mesh.”

Luehring said with the way the program is trending now, she could see sustained success on the horizon for Rebel volleyball.

“They’ve got to get a taste of it before they can continue to be successful. It takes consistency with the coaches as far as being there for a period of time to build the program,” she said. “Volleyball in this part of the state is a tough sport, so it’s just really neat to see them mature and come along and make this sort of thing happen.”

After the regional final win, amidst the celebrations Cynthia, Kelley and Luehring were able to share a moment together, now 30 years removed from when they celebrated the last time Gladbrook-Reinbeck was state bound.

“I just appreciate those girls, Paula and Cynthia both,” Luehring said. “Cynthia was there and the three of us had pictures taken and it was a fun time to have that group back again and be a part of that.”

Now that she will be in the stands and not on the court getting ready to play, Cynthia said she is almost more excited than she was in 1988.

“It’s unbelievable, it’s exciting, I never thought I would be so excited for my daughter and so emotional during the games,” she said. “It’s just a different feeling and I am so happy for them to be able to go through this just like we did. It’s a good memory that they will always have.”

While there are many strings that run between the 1988 team and this one preparing for state now, Kelley said Luehring is the woman that holds all of the ends together.

“Terri has been a part of this program since day one when Chris and I took over, and throughout last year and this year she will send me tidbits of things and encouragement and come to the games,” Kelley said. “I just feel like I am keeping the program alive for her. She started the G-R program and I feel like I am able to keep her legacy going from where we started. I was able to step in and get us back to where we needed to be to the level of that program.”

As for any advice she has for Kelley and the girls as they prepare for their first-round match against Janesville, Luehring said they can’t forget to enjoy the moment.

“I told Paula that the biggest thing now is they have to believe in themselves and have the confidence that if they continue to play and play well and just have fun they will have success,” Luehring said. “This is a fun time.”

Gladbrook-Reinbeck will take the court in the Iowa Girls High School State Volleyball Tournament for the first time in 30 years on Wednesday for its first-round matchup against Janesville, starting at 6 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.

Iowa High School State

At U.S. Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids

Quarterfinal Pairings

Class 5A

Tuesday, Nov. 6

Cedar Falls (44-0) vs. Waukee (29-14), Noon

Cedar Rapids Jefferson (37-6) vs. Linn-Mar (31-9), 2 p.m.

Ankeny Centennial (38-3) vs. Dowling Catholic (29-12), Noon

West Des Moines Valley (40-3) vs. Ankeny (31-12), 2 p.m.

Class 4A

Tuesday, Nov. 6

Sergeant Bluff-Luton (34-6) vs. West Delaware (33-10), 4 p.m.

Dubuque Wahlert (23-12) vs. Independence (34-6), 6 p.m.

Cedar Rapids Xavier (27-8) vs. Pella (31-6), 4 p.m.

Dallas Center-Grimes (35-4) vs. Bondurant-Farrar (34-2), 6 p.m.

Class 3A

Wednesday, Nov. 7

Davenport Assumption (31-5) vs. Osage (29-6), 10 a.m.

Kuemper Catholic (42-1) vs. Clarion Goldfield-Dows (27-8), noon

Tipton (37-3) vs. New Hampton (36-5), 10 a.m.

MOC-Floyd Valley (28-7) vs. Mount Vernon (27-17), noon

Class 2A

Wednesday, Nov. 7

Dyersville Beckman (43-3) vs. Wilton (36-4), 2 p.m.

Unity Christian (30-6) vs. Dike-New Hartford (35-12), 4 p.m.

Western Christian (39-5) vs. Treynor (33-7), 2 p.m.

Sidney (38-2) vs. Tri-Center (31-7), 4 p.m.

Class 1A

Wednesday, Nov. 7

Janesville (43-5) vs. Gladbrook-Reinbeck (28-9), 6 p.m.

Starmont (29-6) vs. Tripoli (23-15), 8 p.m.

Gehlen Catholic (27-4) vs. East Mills (28-5), 6 p.m.

Holy Trinity Catholic (35-3) vs. Montezuma (29-9), 8 p.m.