HAMPDEN – As the elder stateswoman of the Orono High School girls tennis team, Kate Kirby felt a sense of urgency as the Red Riots squared off against top-ranked George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill for the Eastern Maine Class C team championship Thursday.

So the senior led with her words before the match, and with her racket once she took to the indoor courts at Bangor Tennis in leading the Red Riots to a 3-2 victory and their second straight regional title.

Kirby’s words came in the form of a one-page speech she wrote “in about five minutes” on Tuesday evening.

“I gave the team a pep talk,” said Kirby, the Red Riots’ top singles player, “and we just went out there with a lot of confidence. We were really motivated, we really wanted it.”

She then went out and set a winning tone with a 6-0, 6-0 win over GSA top seed Jen Olivari to give Orono a quick 1-0 lead.

“I played every point like it was my last and just swung away,” said Kirby, who hopes to continue her tennis career next year at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass.

The victory advances the third-ranked Red Riots (13-2) to Saturday’s state championships against Waynflete School of Portland. The match will be played outdoors at Lewiston High School if the weather cooperates or at the Racket and Fitness Center in Portland if the rains persist.

“Kate’s like the team mom, she puts a lot into the team and she wrote up a little paper and talked to us and just tried to get us going,” said Orono third singles player Mari Dawn Lamb. “We hadn’t done that before, it’s more of a soccer thing, but it worked.”

GSA (13-2) had defeated Orono twice during the regular season, and the athletic rivalry between the schools provided an additional source of motivation for the Red Riots.

GSA had eliminated the Orono boys tennis team Wednesday, and the Eagles had ousted the Red Riots in both boys and girls soccer regional semifinals last fall.

“A lot of the tennis team members were part of the soccer team,” said Kirby, “so we really, really wanted the game today.”

Orono clinched the victory by winning the first three matches to be completed, all in singles as Katie Foley and Lamb also earned straight-set victories. The Red Riots figured they needed to dominate singles play, since success in doubles had fueled GSA’s regular-season success against Orono.

Lamb gave Orono a 2-0 lead by winning a 6-3, 6-3 baseline duel against GSA’s Winslow Brokaw at third singles, avenging a regular season loss.

“I was really nervous,” she said. “I had a lot of confidence in Kate Kirby and Katie Foley, and I knew a lot of it was on my shoulders. I knew if I could pull one out then we could go to states, and I really wanted to do that for Kate Kirby because this is her final year and she’s won every match for us.”

Foley gave the Red Riots their third point by winning a battle of long rallies against Britney Olivari for a 6-2, 6-1 victory at second singles.

“Actually my issue was I kept hitting short balls, and I got really frustrated with myself,” said Foley, “but I just had to keep going.”

GSA did sweep the doubles matches, with Morgan Springer and Hillary Lawsing defeating Kate Weatherbee and Megan Quintal 6-4, 6-1 and Annika Treyball and Laura Overton outlasting Margaret Payne and Asne Dahl 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.