It’s rare that a team gets to settle a score on a state championship stage.
Faced with that opportunity at Mount Desert Island in Bar Harbor on Saturday afternoon, the Calais High School volleyball team took full advantage.
Matched up with a Washington Academy club that defeated the Blue Devils in last fall’s Class B state final, coach Anne Scott’s team assured this year would produce no heartbreak.
Calais, which posted a 13-1 regular-season record with the lone loss coming to Class A Mount Desert Island, swept its rivals from East Machias in resounding fashion, 25-15, 25-11 and 25-11.
The win gave the Blue Devils their first state championship since 2009, and Scott’s first as a head coach.
“We remained in control of the match the entire time,” Scott said Monday afternoon. “We scored first in all three games. At one point in Game 3 we were ahead 14-1. The girls just took control of the match from the start and never let go of that control.”
Calais only lost four sets during the regular season, and swept its way through the postseason.
“They came in Day 1 ready to go, and this is what they wanted,” Scott said. “They never lost sight of [the goal].”
The Blue Devils set the tone in the state championship matches by serving flawlessly, with Kylie Donovan going 18-for-20, Kelly Delaney 13-13 and Abby Condon 17-17.
“That’s about how those girls served most of the year,” said Scott, who has been the team’s head coach the last three years after serving as an assistant since 1991.
“We didn’t have a lot of aces, but we served well and remained in control of the match,” Scott said.
In addition, Donovan compiled three aces, eight assists and six digs; Delaney five aces, 18 kills and three digs; Condon four aces, two kills, five blocks and two digs; Kelsey Locoote five aces, six assists and three digs; and Kayli Doten a pair of kills and blocks.
Scott called Delaney a “phenomenal athlete, phenomenal kid and great hitter,” while Condon and Doten, who stand 5-foot-11 and 5-foot-10, respectively, were forces around the net, she said.
Other key players included defensive specialists Emma Seelye and Faith Tirrell.
Donovan also had overcome a preseason injury.
“She twisted her ankle during a preseason tournament and missed the first three, four games,” Scott said. “They hung together, they worked hard.”
The Blue Devils and Raiders played twice during the regular season, with Calais winning both matches 3-0. Washington Academy had beaten Calais 3-2 in last year’s state championship match.
“After last year, they knew what they wanted to do,” Scott said. “They were not going to let anything get between them and the gold ball this year. They were very focused.”
Calais dominated the match so thoroughly that it finished in under an hour.
Follow Ryan McLaughlin on Twitter at rmlcaughlin23
