COUNCIL BLUFFS — It’s said that Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln volleyball has been dismissed statewide because the school doesn’t sit in a talent hotbed. The Lynx have been forgotten and disrespected during the season, and certainly left out of discussions about potential state champions.

Whether such perceptions are real or contrived is debatable. What’s certain is they’ve given A.L. plenty of reason to want to prove itself, even after advancing this week to the state tournament for the second time in three years.

The No. 7 Lynx (37-11) play No. 3 Cedar Rapids Kennedy (34-4) today at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. The Class 4-A state quarterfinal match will begin at 2:15 p.m. for what A.L. sees as a classic east-west clash between Iowa’s perceived haves and have-nots.

“All we hear about is how all the schools in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines are so good,” said A.L coach Yvonne Carson. “And it’s not just us. (Class 3-A No. 1 Sioux City) Heelan has won state a number of times and they can’t garner any respect.

“We’re as good as that group is, but we’re all on the wrong side of the state.”

Such thoughts have served as motivation for the Lynx all year. It reached a crescendo in last Tuesday’s regional final when they swept Johnston, the team that had squashed their postseason run the previous two years. Now A.L. must show it belongs in an eight-team state field dotted with opponents from the east.

Chelsea Colpitts, A.L.’s senior starting middle blocker, remembers the excitement two years ago, when her team reached the state semifinals. The whole experience was a blur then, and seemed like a dream.

This time, she said, she won’t be happy just to be there.

“Making it to state seemed like our only goal (in 2007),” Colpitts said. “That was good enough for us, and I think we could have won that year. This year I think we have a different attitude.”

The Lynx are led by Colpitts and senior Emily Olsen, averaging 2.4 and 4.1 kills per game, respectively. They are two of five seniors who were in Cedar Rapids before, and return with a group of underclassmen that has steadily increased its production as the year went on. The Lynx lost just one starter from the 2008 team that reached a regional final.

The emergence of younger players convinced Carson a state title was possible this year. It was the small things, like Jordan Gillenwater swinging harder, Hannah Christensen moving her feet more, and junior setter Sierra Nighswonger finding the open hitters at the net.

A.L. had planned to work out this week with Heelan before leaving for Cedar Rapids, but illness on both teams nixed that plan.

Carson said her group is equal to anyone in Iowa when it comes to overall talent. But her experience — 11 Nebraska state tournament berths with Omaha Gross and now two with A.L. — tells her the mental challenge is where a match will be won or lost.

“The one thing I’ve learned is that any team at a state tournament is beatable because every team goes in with some kind of nerves,” Carson said. “I have seen teams that were mighty fall pretty quickly at state. I think if you take a team like A.L. lightly, you’re in serious trouble.”