Sports briefs

Volleyball cements place in standings

The Mercer Island girls volleyball team cemented its second-place position in the KingCo 3A standings last week, following a loss to top team Mount Si, before beating Bellevue last Thursday.

The team has two more weeks of regular season play, all against opponents it faced during the first half of the season. Before the last home game on Oct. 27 against Sammamish, the Islanders will travel to Liberty before going to Interlake on Oct. 28. All three are teams that the Islanders have beaten during previous matches. No matter where the Islanders finish, they have guaranteed themselves a place in the KingCo volleyball tournament, which begins on Oct. 30 at Sammamish High School.

Against Mount Si on Tuesday, the Islanders lost 3-1. The final scores were 17-25, 25-21, 16-25 and 23-25. During the loss, the Islanders netted 26 assists and 26 kills as a team. Ariel Dewey had 26 assists, the team’s high, while Kaylia Balinbin had 16 kills and Sabrina Rasmussen and Lorial Yeadon each recorded five kills of their own.

On Thursday, the Islanders hosted Bellevue, winning 3-0. Mercer Island started off the night with a solid set, beating Bellevue 25-16, before going on to win the next two games, 25-23 and 25-13.

Dewey notched 23 assists during the team’s win, while Rasmussen had five kills, Balinbin had nine, Erin McKiernan had six and Yeadon recorded five kills. Both Yeadon and Alisa Owens had 10 digs.

Cross country determined after home win over Mount Si

The Islanders cross country team hosted its second home league meet in as many weeks, with both the boys and girls teams beating Mount Si at Island Crest Park.

“We had an awesome meet this last week,” said co-head coach Erica Hill. “It was an outstanding way to celebrate our seniors. [We’re] very much looking forward to KingCo.” She said one area which has plagued the team this season is sickness, which has been more of an issue than in the past. Despite the various bugs floating around the team, the Islanders will begin prepping for the KingCo league meet Thursday at Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah, determined to make a strong showing. Racers who qualify will compete in the 3A district meet, also at Lake Sammamish State Park on Oct. 29.

During the boys race last Wednesday, the Islanders swept the top three spots, with Aaron Elefon taking first at 16:03, Nick Ford in second at 16:10 and Wil Clausen at 16:53. Mercer Island also nabbed the remaining top 10 spots, minus fourth place, which went to Mount Si.

In the girls race, the Islanders took the top two spots, with Lindsay Benster finishing first in 18:35 and Molly O’Callahan in second at 19:19. Gabrielle Gyotette finished fifth at 19:59, and Zoe Spranger was seventh at 20:42. Carly Andersen was eighth at 20:54, and Mikayla Davis finished in 10th place at 21:34.

Islander football finds shutout win against Ingraham

The Mercer Island football team earned its second win of the season on Friday night with a 45-0 romp over Ingraham in a non-league game.

The Islanders kicked off the evening with a 21-0 first quarter, quickly giving the offensive line room to stretch. Kurtis Rosengreen made a 2-yard run for the first points of the evening, and after the kick failed, the score was 6-0. Sophomore quarterback Jeff Lindquist made a pass to Ben Emanuels, who found the end zone after a 1-yard dash to score again.

The biggest run of the night was from Lindquist, who made a 96-yard run down the field to score against Ingraham.

In the second quarter, the Islanders continued to rack up the score, earning 14 more points to Ingraham’s zero. Rosengreen netted a 337-yard pass from Lindquist before making a 5-yard run into the end zone later in the quarter.

The third quarter was scoreless for both teams as Ingraham tried in vain to hold off the Islanders offensive line, but in the last 12 minutes of the game, Mercer Island found its stride again, earning 10 more points before the final whistle. Phil Frazier, a sophomore running back, made a 9-yard run for a touchdown, followed by a solid kick from Alex Wood. Wood put more points on the board with a 13-yard field goal, giving the Islanders 45 points against the Rams.

This week, the Islanders will remain on the road, traveling to take on Sammamish, another team still searching for a league win. Either way, come Friday night, one of those teams will take themselves out of the KingCo 3A basement. The kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Tennis advances to 8-0 perfect record

The Mercer Island boys tennis team advanced to a perfect 8-0 undefeated record this week, taking down Bothell and Liberty.

On Wednesday afternoon, after their Tuesday match was rained out, the Islanders beat Bothell 6-1.

“The boys squeaked it in,” said head coach Joyce Hedlund. “[There was] some rain midway through the second sets, but the boys stuck it out and won.”

The next afternoon, the team traveled to Liberty, where Mercer Island posted a 7-0 win over the Patriots.

MI at Bothell

Singles – Jordan Smith beat David Maggs 6-0, 6-0; Erik Snyder beat Russell Kilgannon 6-1, 6-1; Glen Kettor beat Dakota Newton 6-1, 6-0; Davis Kimball of Bothell beat Alex Foehr 6-1, 7-5.

Doubles – Matt Sedlacek-Jared Thomas beat Jake Arlan-Tim Bultman 6-0, 6-0; Andrew Smith-Woody Jackson beat Anthony Miner-Evan Mccall 6-4, 6-2; Jeremy Chow-Gabe Davis beat Kevin McShane-Mitchell Viydo 6-1, 6-1.

MI at Liberty

Singles – Max Franklin beat Thomas Lowes 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); Zach Elliot beat Sho Kato 6-0, 6-1; Craig Deninger beat Michael Payant 6-1, 7-5; Jon Lai beat Hayden Meriwether 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles – Koonmin Chua-Byron Guo beat Chris Weik-Ryan Maio 6-3, 6-3; David Peck-Quinn Snell beat Garrett Timm-Dylan Clark 6-0, 6-0; Nate Mildeberger-Nick Medlock beat Daniel Craig-Nam Nguyen 4-6, 6-2, 10-3.

Boys golf finishes second at district meet

The Mercer Island boys golf team finished second at the district golf tournament on Monday, held at Harbour Pointe Golf Course in Mukilteo.

The team finished with a score of 45, just behind the first-place team, Bainbridge, which won the tournament with a 52.5 score.

The top 22 golfers at the district meet qualified for the state golf event next spring. Mercer Island had three golfers qualify for the state.

Charlie Kern finished third with a 72, matching the course par. Kyle Code and Crawford Leeds also qualified, each shooting 74 during the day. The first-place golfer finished two strokes under with a 70.

Prior to the meet, head coach Tyson Peters said the team knew it was going to be a tough match as five of the top 10 teams in the state were competing. Peters said it was as much a district tournament as it was a state warm-up event, with the overall winner likely to be the front runner for the title in the spring.

The players who competed in the district match include: Kern, who finished third at the medalist tournament with a 75; Leeds, qualifying after a fifth-place finish; George Jiranek, ninth; and Kirby Ingram and Code.

The previous Monday, the boys team won the KingCo medalist tournament with a combined score of 387, 17 strokes ahead of second-place Mount Si.

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