As underdog stories go, the Mt. Blue girls’ tennis team is a candidate for the best one this academic year in Maine high school sports.

“This is the way, way, way, way, way farthest we’ve ever gone,” Mt. Blue coach Judy Upham said of the Cougars’ rise to the Eastern Class A championship Wednesday at the University of Maine.

No. 4 Mt. Blue (11-3) will face No. 2 Brunswick (14-0) at 4 p.m. The Dragons shut out the Cougars twice during the KVAC regular season, are the defending state champions and are the prohibitive favorite.

But wait a minute. Where’s No. 1? Why, it was Hampden Academy, and Mt. Blue ended its run in Saturday’s semifinals. The Broncos were undefeated, too.

“You could have knocked me over with a feather,” Upham said. “Our goal for the season was to have one extra match.”

Lo and behold, on Monday, there were the Cougars, practicing for their third postseason battle. This one, for the first regional title in the program’s history.

Brunswick is led 2012 state singles champion and 2013 runner-up Maisie Silverman.

“We had a nice practice (Monday). We did a few drills and went over some things we felt we needed to work on,” Upham said. “I always tell the girls, ‘Hit the ball the way you know how to hit the ball and good things will happen.'”

Great things happened the last time Mt. Blue made the long journey up Route 2 and Interstate 95 to the Penobscot River valley.

Hampden and Mt. Blue didn’t meet during the regular season.

“Nobody knew,” Upham said. “We did some research and knew the first two (singles) matches might be tough, but the next three seemed do-able, if everybody played well.”

That’s how the ball bounced. Hampden’s one-two punch of Ashley Woodside and Pauline Liebig lost a total of only three games.

Savannah Swain snagged a point for the Cougars at No. 3 singles, fighting off Kristi Reichel, 7-5, 6-2.

It came down to doubles, with Mt. Blue winning both in the third and deciding set.

Cassidy Bigos and Alyssa White dropped the opening set, 4-6, before rallying 7-5 and 6-2. Thia Bridges and Eryn Doiron survived 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.

Mt. Blue didn’t make the playoffs a year ago.

“We were either 5-7 or 6-6 and had a better record than some, but the Heal Points didn’t work out,” Upham said. “The girls wanted to come back and just host a quarterfinal.”

The Cougars had hosted only one previous playoff match in Upham’s tenure, in the preliminary round.

Upham joked that she is “clueless” as to what turned it around this season before quickly pointing to senior co-captains Mackenzie Conlogue and Makenzie Thompson at first and second singles.

“They’ve been friends since they were little, little,” Upham said. “They don’t give long, motivational speeches. They’re just solid. They’re supportive. They’re friendly. They’re everything you want from your captains.”