ELLSWORTH – Western Maine champion Greely of Cumberland Center built quick leads to defeat Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor and claim the state volleyball championship Saturday at Ellsworth High School.

It was the sixth straight title for the Rangers and fifth straight over Eastern Maine champion MDI.

“It’s nice to win,” said Greely coach Kelvin Hasch. “We didn’t play that well today, but we got the job done.”

The Rangers defeated the Trojans, 25-17, 25-20 and 25-18, and finished their season at 17-0.

MDI wound up 16-1.

The Trojans started each game behind, falling to deficits of 7-2, 7-1 and 8-2, respectfully.

“They’re too good to come back [on],” said MDI coach Todd Brophy, whose Trojans led just once by scoring the opening point in the third game.

MDI battled back in the final two games.

The Trojans pulled to within three points late in the second game, 23-20, and tied it in the third game, 15-15, before Greely used a timeout to cool MDI’s momentum. Greely scored six unanswered points after the timeout.

With the score 24-18 in the third game, junior Michaela Campbell fired a serve off MDI freshman India Ross to record the ace and give the Rangers the championship.

“It’s really exciting,” said junior setter Karlee Biskup of Greely. “We were so pumped and ready to play this morning.”

Even with the loss, Brophy was proud of his team.

“I’m real happy that the girls never gave up and kept firing away,” said Brophy. “We had great blocking and the defense picked up a lot of balls [but] the unforced errors really hurt.”

MDI senior Whitney Walls reached a milestone in her final game with the Trojans by re-cording her 100th career ace. She also notched 12 digs and was 13-for-14 serving.

“It’s been fun, but it’s always disappointing [when you lose],” said MDI senior Alyson Yau, who had eight digs, six assists and two aces. “I thought we played really well, but we can always improve.”

The Rangers were led by captain Hillary Cederna’s 12 kills and five aces. Fellow captain Campbell had nine kills and two aces.

Senior Hannah Adelmann paced the Trojans with nine digs, seven kills, two assists, one ace and one block. Megan Phelps chipped in with seven kills, three blocks, one assist and one dig.

Biskup hopes that Greely can make it seven in a row next year.

“I’m sad the seniors are leaving. We’ll miss them next year,” said Biskup. “But I think we’ll be strong again.”

bdnsports@bangordailynews.net