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GARDINER — For the second time in program history, the Gardiner volleyball team will play in the state championship game.

The No. 1 Tigers swept No. 5 Wells 3-0 in a Class C state semifinal on Wednesday night at the Bragoli Gym.

Gardiner (13-3) will play the winner of the semifinal between Mount Desert Island and Ellsworth in the Class C championship game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hampden Academy. The Tigers reached the Class B championship game in 2021, losing to Cape Elizabeth.

“This feels great,” said Gardiner coach Bill Boardman. “I’m so happy for this group of kids. It’s just an awesome feeling.”

“We just needed to trust each other, communicate and have fun,” said Gardiner senior captain Camden Genest. “Having fun is one of the biggest components to (succeeding). We can just be ourselves and do whatever.”

Wells, which had its best year in program history, finished 6-10.

“I’m so proud of this team, I knew they wanted it (today),” said Wells coach Rachel Graceffa. “We’ve improved, they’ve improved, obviously. We were ready for them, but maybe (Gardiner) wanted it just a little bit more.”

Gardiner won the first set 25-14, 25-23 in the second and 25-19 in the third.

“We knew (Wells) was going to punch back after the first set,” said Tigers senior captain Julie Folsom. “We were prepared for a tougher second set. We just kept telling each other to trust each other and communicate, the same things we did in the first set, because we knew we could do it.”

How did they get there?

Working on the finer points. Wells beat Gardiner 3-1 in a regular-season match on Sept. 6. Boardman knew the team would have to do some work near the net, particularly their blocking, to beat the Warriors in a future matchup.

“We watched a lot of film on them, we practiced a lot of blocking and hitting,” Folsom said.

The work in practice paid off. Gardiner was excellent near the net all night, particularly from Lila Anderson, Joely Cote, Genest and Folsom.

“We spent the last two days blocking,” Boardman said. “As a coach, when you do two things like blocking and go execute it, it’s a great thing. They did exactly what we practiced for two days and it showed tonight.”

Wells showed fight all night, particularly senior middle hitter Megyn Mertens, who was a force near the net and had several kills during the match.

What does it mean?

Despite entering the Class C playoffs as the No. 1 seed, Gardiner players felt disrespected by critics who said the team had an easy regular-season schedule. The Tigers used it as fuel throughout the playoffs.

“We heard chatter that we were only No. 1 because we play easy teams,” Folsom said. “We just kind of flew under the radar and knew eventually people would have to see that we’re a really great team.”

Boardman added: “I think they surpassed a lot of people’s expectations, maybe not mine. I think I knew after we lost to Wells badly in the first match, I could see a fire in their eyes, I could see they didn’t like that feeling, and then we ran 10 (wins) in a row. On the bus ride home (that day), they knew they wanted to win more.”

Despite the loss, Wells raised the bar for the program entering next season.

“What our captains have shown is what leadership looks like,” Graceffa said. “They’ve done a fantastic job of getting girls on board to be the type of program that we want.”