During the glory years of Lawrence High’s volleyball program, Joan Wells made a point of using the same message in her pre-state speeches.

That message? No team deserved to win state more than LHS because no team worked harder than LHS.

With that in mind, it appears this year’s team has more of a link to the past than just being coached by one of Wells’ former players.

“We know we deserve it,” sophomore Mary Coldsnow said. “And we have the heart to win. We’re making it the new generation of LHS volleyball.”

LHS enters today’s Class 6A state tournament as the No. 8 seed. The Lions earned the trip to Topeka by knocking off top-seeded Free State and No. 5 seed Shawnee Mission North at last weekend’s sub-state tournament, where they also were the lowest seed.

It’s sort of a been-there, done-that attitude for coach Stephanie Magnuson’s girls, and it’s a team that exudes confidence because of its pool.

As the lowest seed at state, the Lions will face No. 1 Goddard (38-1), No. 4 Blue Valley West (28-8) and No. 5 Dodge City (24-12) in pool play.

Victories in two of those three matches would advance the Lions to Saturday’s semifinals.

“We haven’t taken this week lightly,” Magnuson said. “We’ve still been working hard. We’re not just happy to be there, we want to win. We would’ve loved it if Free State and Lawrence High could have both qualified for state, but since we’re the only team that did, we want to represent all of Lawrence.”

Not only has LHS seen two of the three teams it will face today, but it has beaten one of them: Dodge City. LHS fell to BV West in a hard-fought match in Emporia two weeks ago.

In some ways, Magnuson said she wished the Lions could have gone directly to the state tournament after their improbable run through sub-state. But Magnuson said having a week to prepare her team would be even more beneficial, even if it has been a tough week.

“I can’t focus in school at all,” Coldsnow said. “We’re all so excited. Beating Free State and winning sub-state was great. But at the same time, it was also good to get a break so we could refocus and go to state ready to play our best.”