Ties that bind: Teresa Bair and Roxanne Paulsen

MARION — In the fall of 1983, a young coach and an intense little freshman helped lay the first brick on what would later become an Iowa high-school volleyball dynasty.

The coach was Teresa Kehe. The freshman was setter Roxanne Moeller. The team was the Tripoli Panthers.

'It was so exciting, a new sport starting at our school,' said that former freshman. 'Coach was young, but she had played the game. She knew her stuff.'

Fast forward 33 years to today. Teresa Kehe is now Teresa Bair. Roxanne Moeller is now Roxanne Paulsen. Both are coaches of championship-caliber teams, just a few miles apart.

Bair won six championships at Tripoli before leaving for Loras College in Dubuque. In four years at Linn-Mar, she has changed the culture of the volleyball program. This fall, the Lions won their first Mississippi Valley Conference divisional title and their first conference tournament crown in school history. They'll face Ankeny in a Class 5A state-quarterfinal match at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Across town, Paulsen has built a stable, consistently successful program with the Marion Indians, guiding them to a state championship in 2008. She'll coach in her seventh state tournament at 6 p.m. Tuesday, when the Indians face Cedar Rapids Xavier in a 4A first-rounder.

'Teresa was very instrumental in me becoming a coach,' Paulsen said. 'She made me see how you could be a mom, and be a coach, and make it all work.'

Before 1983, Tripoli played softball in the fall, as did most small schools. Bair was fresh out of college as a young PE teacher to start the volleyball program.

The second of four girls in the Moeller household, Paulsen 'came from an athletic family,' Bair said. 'She was intense, and she had a lot of drive. She wanted to be the best she could be.'

And so began Tripoli's steady rise. The Panthers improved steadily before Paulsen graduated, then became a small-school giant, capturing six titles (1999-2001, 2003-05) before Bair moved on to the collegiate level.

There was success at Loras, but Bair missed teaching. So, when Linn-Mar associate athletics director Tonya Moe called in 2012, Bair listened.

'We had all the pieces. We had the participation numbers and the talent,' Moe said. 'We were missing a coach that had what it took to be successful and put it all together.

'I visited with (Xavier principal) Tom Keating, and had him give me a top-10 list on who I should contact.'

Bair was at the top of that list.

'I let Tonya do her pitch, and I said, 'Why me?' I can't give you 20 years,' said Bair, now 57. 'She said, 'No. 1, we need someone to teach young females how to coach.' At the time, all of our coaches of girls' sports were men.

'I felt I could raise the basic fundamentals, their volleyball IQ. I thought I could improve the culture and the work ethic.'

It took time, and it took patience.

'Each year, we've gotten a little better,' said Ellie Anderson, Linn-Mar's setter. 'It's been a roller coaster. 'She's a hard-ass, but a good hard-ass. I play better when I'm a little angry, and she knows how to get that out of me.

'More than anything, she's given us motivation, and a belief that we could be good.'

State volleyball: Class 5A team capsules, stat leaders, predictions

Moe said, 'It's not just the wins with Teresa. It's how she connects with kids. She's a tough coach that doesn't accept anything but their best. She holds them accountable.

'Two questions I would ask her players: Do you feel she cares for you? Do you trust her? — I imagine the unanimous answers to both of those questions would be yes. And that's what you want from a coach.'

Paulsen feels that Bair has mellowed since her time at Tripoli.

'I remember when she gave us that look, we knew we were in trouble,' she said. 'But she's just a tremendous role model to young women.'

After spending four years growing a program at Moulton-Udell, Paulsen came to Marion. She served for three years as an assistant to Lori Dostal, and now has served as head coach for 13 years. This is the seventh state-tournament team for Paulsen, 47.

The 2008 team was a decided underdog to Mount Vernon.

'We wanted to play Mount Vernon, to see where we were at,' Paulsen said. 'If we played them five times, they probably would win four. But I just told our kids, 'Let's just play and see where we're at.' The cards fell into place for us. That was a special group of kids.'

Paulsen possesses a sunny personality, but still sports the underlying intensity that she played with under Bair.

'You can tell when you haven't done your job,' said Marion middle hitter Isabella Sade. 'We have a funny thing, if you screw up, she'll say, 'sub-one.' That always loosens us up.

'The way she coaches, it's special. She makes everyone feel important. She's like a second mother.'

State volleyball: Class 4A team capsules, stat leaders, predictions

The 4A and 5A state brackets both appear to be balanced. And both Marion and Linn-Mar are peaking.

'We definitely have the potential to win it all,' Anderson said.

Bair is three years away from being eligible for IPERS, the Iowa retirement package for educators. She isn't counting down the years.

'When it's time to get out, I'll know,' she said.

Until then, Moe said, 'I'll take her as long as she wants to be here.'

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