BIRMINGHAM — Addison’s volleyball team is back in familiar territory.

The top-ranked Lady Bulldogs destroyed Westminster-Oak Mountain (25-11, 25-7, 25-13) and No. 3 Athens Bible (25-6, 25-23, 25-11) at Wednesday’s Class 1A state tournament to advance to their 9th consecutive championship match.

Addison (50-8) will compete versus No. 2 Meek (46-16) — the Lady Tigers eliminated Sumiton Christian and Decatur Heritage — Thursday at 8 a.m. at Bill Harris Arena in Birmingham for a chance to earn its fifth straight state title and 10th in program history.

The Lady Bulldogs, who are 6-0 against Meek this season, have already strolled past their rival en route to Winston County, Area 12 and North Super Regional Tournament crowns — but that doesn’t mean a thing to Kayla Woodard.

“Nothing we’ve done against them matters at this point,” the third-year coach said. “We’re starting over on Thursday. It’s challenging mentally to play someone you’ve beaten six times, but we’ve got to leave out all that stuff. I keep telling them how important it is to do that. We’ve got to be extremely focused.”

Addison garnered huge leads in all three sets against the Lady Eagles to rack up a quick and easy triumph before settling in for a near six-hour rest prior to taking the court for its afternoon match with the Lady Trojans.

The lengthy wait, however, didn’t seem to bother the Lady Bulldogs at all. They dominated during a lopsided opening set before closing strong in the third set following a small malaise midway through the contest.

All in all, not a bad effort.

“Overall, I’m very proud of them,” Woodard said. “First match, we were a little not ourselves. I don’t know what it was. I felt like we settled down and were better focused in the second match.”

Senior setter Cecilee Gaither couldn’t have said it better herself.

“I’m pleased,” she added. “I thought we played pretty well. We have a lot of experience on this team, and our underclassmen stepped up as well. It’s been sweet. Our coaches haven’t pressured us. We don’t talk about a 5-peat. We just play with what God has given us and use what He’s blessed us with. We’re excited to play one more.”

Seven seniors will partake in their final contest for Addison on Thursday — McKenzie Berry, Kendra Tyree, Gracie Herald, Allie Chambless, Brianna Chandler, Abbie Chambless and the aforementioned Gaither.

What better way to send them out than with another state championship.

“This has been a great group,” Woodard said. “They’re all leaders, and they all have their role on this team. I think it would certainly be sweeter for them to walk away as champions. In general, we start off in May with the expectation of making it to this point. But it’s not enough to make it … we want to win. We’ve done what it takes to get here. Now we just have to finish.

Some of the top contributors for the Lady Bulldogs were as follows: Abbie Chambless (27 kills, 13 digs, seven blocks and two aces); Savannah Manley (14 kills, six blocks, three aces and one dig); Allie Chambless (10 kills, two digs and one block); Kendra Tyree (23 digs and 11 aces); and McKenzie Berry (six kills and one block); and Cecilee Gaither (eight digs and two aces).