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HAMPDEN — For a program that had always come just short, this moment meant everything to the Mount Desert Island volleyball team.
Janiece Anderson was in giddy disbelief as the Trojans huddled as state champions for the first time in program history. Moments later, as MDI players, coaches and fans celebrated on the court, Thalia Thomas shared an emotional hug with coach Whitney Walls.
The seventh time was heaven for MDI in the Class C state final Saturday against Gardiner at Hampden Academy. The Trojans, who fell short in the Class B title match last season, beat the Tigers in four sets, 25-14, 25-12, 24-26, 28-26.
“This feels amazing; I didn’t ever expect to get this far in my volleyball journey, and this is the first time (for us),” said Thomas, a senior. “Our team really pulled it off. We worked so hard to get this win.”
MDI and Gardiner battled early in the first set, with the No. 2 Trojans (10-7) taking an 8-7 lead. After the Tigers followed a 4-0 MDI run with one of its own, the Trojans won the next seven points and 13 of the last 16 in the set.
Top-seeded Gardiner (13-4) went point-for-point with MDI early in the second set and held a small lead. But with the set tied at 10, Thomas served nine straight points for MDI, and after Gardiner finally broke the run, the Trojans recorded six of the next seven.
“We could have easily given up after those first two (sets) because we just weren’t good — we were horrible, in fact,” said Gardiner coach Bill Boardman. “They knew that, but they made a decision that they didn’t want to end their season like that, so they dug deep and fought back tremendously.”
Indeed, Gardiner wasn’t about to go down without a fight. With MDI leading 18-13 in the third set, the Tigers roared back and extended the match. Then, after leading for much of the fourth set, Gardiner seemed set to force a fifth as it took a 24-19 lead.
Instead, MDI got six straight service points from Thomas. Gardiner then scored the next two points to reach the brink of a tiebreaking fifth set once again, but three straight points from Anderson gave the Trojans an elusive Gold Ball.
“It was really hard, but we had to keep playing the next point, and that’s how we got out of it,” Thomas said. “The feeling (when we won the last point) was surreal; I couldn’t have ever imagined having that feeling.”
The atmosphere at Hampden Academy was fitting of a state championship match. The Trojans, Walls said, play their best in raucous atmospheres, and with the deafening cheers from fans of both teams during the tense third and fourth sets, this was certainly that.
A regular-season gauntlet prepared MDI for this moment, too. Of the Trojans’ seven losses, four came against Downeast juggernauts Washington Academy and Narraguagus. Their other defeats were against Brewer, Greely and Hampden, all Class B teams.
“That definitely prepared us,” Walls said. “We talked all season about how we played those tough games so that we’re ready for this moment when we get here. That was really important, and those games helped us get here.”
MDI was also motivated by last year’s Class B state final loss to Washington Academy. The Trojans, Walls said, showed an added level of maturity and readiness that helped them jump on Gardiner early.
Nerves made it tough for the Tigers to fight back from MDI’s early surge. Whereas MDI was familiar with the state championship stage, Gardiner, which finished the match with a freshman and three sophomores on the floor, was new to it.
“This is a big moment for younger kids that have never been here before, and now they know,” Boardman said. “We just got down early, and you can’t do that against a good team, but we plan to be right back here next year.”
