PELHAM — Nothing against the city of Pelham, but Pam Wilkins was ready to hightail it back up Interstate 65 with a shiny blue trophy in tow.

And the sooner the better.

Trailing late in game three of the Class 2A state championship match after taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, the Addison High volleyball coach called a timeout to give her team a challenge.

Or maybe just a friendly suggestion. Whatever it was, it worked.

“I told them to go out and win it — take it while we had it,” said Wilkins. “(We were) still in control, so I told them we needed that game badly to keep the momentum going our way.”

Top-ranked Addison responded, rallying to take a 25-24 lead. With the momentum back, the Bulldogs finished off No. 2 Lexington 27-25 in the third and decisive game to capture their fourth blue state-championship trophy of the decade and first since 2005.

The 25-17, 25-13, 27-25 victory gave Addison (69-3) revenge for last year’s defeat to Lexington (42-7) in the state title game while putting the finishing touches on one of the most dominant seasons in program history.

The Bulldogs bested their previous record of 67 wins in 2005, started the year with a 41-match winning streak and ended it winning nine straight.

Addison didn’t drop a game until its 38th match of the season and lost only nine sets on the year. The Bulldogs defeated 13 teams that eventually made the Elite Eight, including both of the 4A finalists and two squads in the 5A bracket.

And it all came with a roster featuring five sophomores, four juniors and only two seniors.

“I’m proud of them. We were a young team — we had five 10th-graders, four of them starting — so we were a little worried about our 10th-graders,” said Wilkins, who guided Addison to three straight 1A titles from 2003 to 2005. “But I think we did a really good job with a really young team, and I’m proud of them.”

Senior Kaydi Langley led the late rally, serving three straight times — including one ace — as Addison took a 25-24 advantage. After Lexington tied it, junior Kaitlin Parker put the Bulldogs back in front with a kill.

An unforced error by the Golden Bears gave Addison the state championship.

“To be honest, I missed some serves today and I was just getting them over,” said Langley, who finished with two aces. “I was just like, ‘Please, let me get them over.’”

The first two sets weren’t nearly as close as the final one.

Addison overcame a scoreboard error in the opener, scoring 26 points but settling for a 25-17 win in the official scorebook.

In game two, the Bulldogs turned a tight 12-8 lead into a commanding 19-9 advantage after a kill by Langley and six straight serves by sophomore Kateria Feezell. Addison went on to win 25-13 and move within one set of the title.

The Bulldogs used a balanced attack, getting seven or more kills from three players. Parker led with 14, Langley had 12 and tournament MVP Sadie Beam added seven.

Junior libero Alex Scott recorded 15 digs and one ace.

Meanwhile, Lexington senior middle hitter Taylor Chapman was held in check for most of the match, finishing with 10 kills and five blocks.

Lindsay Greer led the Golden Bears with 14 kills, while Shea Toner added five.

“They single-block, so we try to make that single blocker run from antenna to antenna to block us,” said Wilkins. “So we think that one reason we probably won today was we have some really nice hitters. We’re not relying on one and then moving.”

Addison senior setter Kali Lake agreed.

“(I was) following the hot hand, and we have all good hitters and they move around in different spots,” said Lake, who finished with 39 assists, four aces, four kills and seven digs. “They’re all good.”

One of the best said Addison’s record-breaking season was dedicated from the start to Langley and Lake, its two seniors.

“I’ve been playing with these two seniors since I was little bitty,” said Beam. “I grew up with them and I’m just glad we won it for them.”

Michael Cummings can be reached by email at michaelc@cullmantimes.com or by phone at 734-2131, ext. 258.