ORONO – Schenck Athletic Director Ron Marks was looking down, shaking his head.

“I don’t know how they did it,” Marks said after the Schenck girls were crowned the Class C Eastern Maine tennis champions Wednesday at the University of Maine’s Chester G. Bridge Tennis Complex.

The Wolverines of East Millinocket surpassed every Schenck fan’s expectations, first by making it to the Eastern Maine final as the No. 2 seed, then by upending No. 1 Mattanawcook of Lincoln at the wire. Schenck will face Western Maine champ Yarmouth in Saturday’s state finals at UMaine.

Two months ago, the Wolverines were just glad to have a team and coaches. After the school board cut the program last year, the players raised money and four inexperienced fans volunteered to coach.

“We don’t have a tablespoon of experience between us,” co-coach David Jamo said. “That shows how talented the players are.”

In Class A, Brunswick endured four split-set matches to defeat Caribou 4-1 and earn the right to face Lewiston in the state finals.

And Ellsworth’s desire for revenge over Camden-Rockport, which beat the Eagles last year, showed in its 5-0 sweep. Ellsworth will play Cape Elizabeth Saturday in the Class B final.

The Class C title came down to the first and second singles matches, with Schenck leading 2-1. Both matches went to a third set and Mattanawcook looked poised to win after its players rallied back to tie their sets.

Three times Mattanawcook’s Laura LaVallee rallied to tie the third set with shots that kept Jennifer McKinnon running from the net to the baseline. But after hitting several of LaVallee’s drop shots into the net, McKinnon finished the set with hard baseline shots to the deep corners to win 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

“I knew it would be close. I’ve played her before and it always goes to a tie-breaker,” McKinnon said. “I was nervous all day. I was trying to see who was winning on the next court. I knew if I lost, it was up to [Angela Boone] to win the match.”

McKinnon’s win gave the Wolverines a 3-1 lead and the title, while Mattanawcook’s Mandi McLaughlin ended up prevailing over Boone 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.

Marks said Schenck has not won the Eastern Maine title in at least 10 years and has never won the states. But the scene Wednesday was unlikely enough with first-year coaches Randi Birt, Georgina Moore, Beth Brown, and Jamo handing out medals having only seen 15 matches between them.

“The bus driver reminded me when we got here the time we went to Orono to practice,” Jamo said. “It was one of the first weeks. I said I just wanted a smooth season. We just wanted to be respectable. We’re quite fortunate.”

In Class A, Brunswick’s Nancy Shapiro showed the Dragons were more accustomed to playing two sets, as she defeated Caribou’s Jennifer Jose 6-2, 7-6, (7-2), 6-2.

While Jose said she felt fatigue going into the tie-breaker, Shapiro showed nothing but energy as she returned more shots to the lefthander’s backhand to trip her.

Ellsworth saw only one tie-breaker as the Eagles won four matches in two sets.

Playing in one of the last two matches, the Eagles already had the title in hand with a 3-0 lead, but first singles player Becky Hildreth wanted a sweep. So after letting Windjammer Emily Stein take a 3-2 lead in the second set, Hildreth refocused to win 6-4, 6-4.

“I was hitting a lot of baseline shots into the net,” Hildreth said. “I knew I could win. We thought we could sweep if we all played strong. We wanted to because we lost to them last year.”