State volleyball tournament makes its 25th Cedar Rapids appearance

CEDAR RAPIDS — A few weeks ago, Lisa Brinkmeyer and some of her old high school teammates gathered to watch footage from the 1992 state volleyball tournament.

It's the same game today, but different.

It's the same facility today, but different.

The tournament makes its 25th consecutive appearance in Cedar Rapids this week. Action begins Tuesday at the U.S. Cellular Center, and runs through Friday's championships.

Now an assistant director for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, Brinkmeyer did what she always does when she views the 1992 telecast by Iowa Public Television. She turned it off before the final set, when Lincoln Community (a school that no longer exists) completed a big comeback to defeat her team from Hubbard-Radcliffe (another school that no longer exists).

'Other than that, it was really fun for me to watch,' Brinkmeyer said. 'You see the transformation between the U.S. Cellular Center from then to now. And you see how much the game has evolved.'

The Girls Union instituted volleyball as a sanctioned sport in 1970, when six-player basketball was at its height of popularity.

It was a non-classed sport at the beginning, and still just a two-class event when then-IGHSAU executive secretary E. Wayne Cooley decided volleyball had outgrown the Des Moines-area high school gyms that had housed the state tournament for the first two decades.

'I give (Cooley) a lot of credit for his forward thinking,' said Tom Keating, who guided Dubuque Wahlert to 11 state championships (including eight in Cedar Rapids). 'He knew it was going to cost some money (to rent the arena). But he cared enough about the kids who play the game to make that decision.

'The move to Cedar Rapids was one of the major factors in the development of the game to what it is today.'

Wahlert won the first big-school championship at what was called the Five Seasons Center in 1991 (the arena's name was changed in 2000) and West Point Marquette claimed the small-school title.

The state tournament field was expanded to three classes in 1994, four classes in 2003 and the current five classes (40 teams) in 2012.

As far as changes to the game, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

* In 2000, an Iowa company named Sport Court began furnishing plastic courts, made of 10-inch square plastic tiles and assembled on-site, to replace the old wooden basketball floors that had been used.

* In 2003, rally scoring was instituted, in which a point is awarded on every serve, not just for the team serving the ball. Games are scored to 25 points (except Game 5, which goes to 15).

* In 2005, the libero position was added. A libero is a back-row defensive player, free of rotation, that can play full-time.

'The changes are endless,' said Teresa Kehe, who built the Tripoli powerhouse from scratch, leading the Panthers to six 1A championships between 1999 and 2005. 'Volleyball is constantly evolving.'

Volleyball also has bred dynasties in the past quarter-century.

Wahlert carried its over to the U.S. Cellular Center under Keating. The Golden Eagles won 10 titles in Cedar Rapids between 1991 and 2005, but none since.

Tripoli has been a small-school giant, first under Kehe, then under Will Baumann. The Panthers have claimed 11 titles since 1999.

Western Christian is a regular. The Wolfpack will make the five-hour journey from Hull to Cedar Rapids this week; it's a familiar route they've taken 21 times, including 15 years in a row.

Western has won 12 state titles at the U.S. Cellular Center; its streak was interrupted by another traditional powerhouse, talent-laden Dike-New Hartford, which grabbed the last four 2A titles.

The Flood of 2008 displaced the tournament for 2011 and 2012, when it was moved to the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. The Girls Union had the option to take the tournament elsewhere — either temporarily or permanently — but didn't.

'I think that they stayed, it's a testament to the relationship between the Girls Union and the city of Cedar Rapids,' said Mary Lee Malmberg, director of sports tourism for the Cedar Rapids Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. 'There were other communities that expressed interest in the event, but we all worked very hard to retain it.'

The tournament, which has generated about $38 million in direct spending to the city's economy in the past 25 years, returned downtown in 2013 once the renovations were complete.

'This facility makes for an outstanding site,' Brinkmeyer said. 'And the people behind it, the support of the staff ... Cedar Rapids rolls out the red carpet. We want a good host, and Cedar Rapids is a very good host.'

You can debate the best team to play in Cedar Rapids (Wahlert in the early '90s? Mount Vernon's line of 6-footers in 2009-10? Dike-New Hartford the past four seasons?).

Best player? Most point toward Mikaela Foecke of Fort Madison Holy Trinity, the state's all-time kills leader and now a freshman at the University of Nebraska.

Highest drama? No debate there.

Iowa City West setter Caroline Found was killed in a moped accident shortly before the 2011 season. The Women of Troy started slow, then picked up steam as the season progressed.

In a made-for-motion-picture script, West reached the 4A state finals at the Ice Arena, dropped the first two sets, escaped match point in the fifth and outlasted crosstown rival Iowa City High.

'Words can't describe it,' Wests's Olivia Fairfield said afterward. 'Everything we've been through ... it makes this mean so much more.'

When Brinkmeyer musters the nerve to watch the 1992 match (Lincoln dropped the first two sets then overcame deficits of 12-5 in the third and 9-2 in the fifth), she sees a game that barely resembles what this generation plays.

'We thought we hit the ball hard,' she said. 'These kids, they pound it. It's so much faster and more powerful now.

'But I love to see the core elements are still there. The girls still cry afterward, whether they win or lose. The fans are still crazy. I love this time of season, wondering, 'How's it all going to end?''

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com