Since she first stepped foot on the volleyball court for Mercer Island, Jemma Yeadon has faced great expectations.

Joining a loaded team her freshmen year, the only freshman on a varsity squad that included older sister Lorial Yeadon and standout Sara Lindquist, Mercer Island gunned for its first-ever state championship.

It didn’t happen that year, and although a state title would come a year later, it’s still something that Yeadon thinks about.

“That team on paper had the best skill set that I’ve seen throughout my four years [at MIHS],” Yeadon said. “We had high expectations, and I’m still bitter to this day that we didn’t win state.”

Yeadon downplays expectations. But with the talent that an athlete of Yeadon’s caliber brings to the team, the Islanders have had state-title aspirations in each of Yeadon’s first three seasons at MIHS.

Now in her senior year, Yeadon hopes to lead the Islanders to a special finish in her final season playing with Mercer Island volleyball. And for her, the personal expectations are just as high as they’ve ever been.

“People thought we weren’t going to do as well losing 10 seniors and we still did well and won state my sophomore year,” she said. “And then we lost Sara and [the thinking was], ‘We’re not going to do as well.’ But every year, we still come back and we still do great. I think this year, we have just as high of expectations, if not higher, than we did my freshmen year.”

Yeadon is a one-of-a-kind athlete on the volleyball court. She’s been playing volleyball since the 2nd grade, when her older sister turned her on to the sport. Her jumping ability is frequently on display, be it when sending her 5-foot-8 frame in the air to block a taller player’s shot or when she would leap in celebration after a successful Mercer Island kill. Yeadon, who is committed to attend Notre Dame next year, says she can jump and reach a height of 10-1, meaning she can get her fingertips just over a regulation 10-foot basketball rim.

As anyone who has ever seen Yeadon perform can attest, her spikes are imposing and downright lethal. Yeadon says she’s never radared how hard she hits, but attributes that ability to work on her core strength.

“When she came on the team her freshman year, the immediate things we noticed were her power, her athleticism and her jumping ability. It was exceptional, and it was already exceptional when she was a freshman,” Mercer Island coach Susan Rindlaub said. “But I think the thing that stood out to me was just her pure joy when she played the sport… even though she had been playing from a young age, you could just see her passion and her joy.”

With Yeadon on the team, the Islanders have gone on an unprecedented four-year run. Mercer Island only lost three total matches during her freshman and sophomore years, with Lindquist and Yeadon leading the Islanders to the program’s first state championship in 2013. Mercer Island has reached the state tournament every year of Yeadon’s high school career, placing no lower than seventh at the tournament. Rindlaub said much of the success over the past four years has been in no small part due to Yeadon’s contributions.

Part of it, she says, is due to Yeadon being a strong front-row and back-row player who consistently plays amazing defense. Even last year while battling a shoulder injury, Yeadon switched to libero, or defensive specialist. She had never played the position, and the Islanders stormed out to an 11-0 league record.

Rindlaub says another part of Yeadon’s leadership is that she’s always working hard and always hustling.

“I don’t think people understand how hard she actually has worked,” Rindlaub said. “Even though she’s an extremely gifted natural athlete, to get to the level that she has, she’s put in a ton of time. Especially last year knowing her injury, there were so many times when she woke up at 5 a.m. to go to some kind of physical therapy before school in order to rehab it, or she would go right from school to practice and then to physical therapy. There were so many extra hours that she put in, whether it was rehabbing injury, or going to extra hitting clinics or working out on weekends. She’s always trying to get better.”

“She’s a great leader,” said starting setter and teammate Natalie Robinson. “She’s great at giving other people confidence. She’ll never tear you down on the court or anything, she’s always bringing people up and always pushing people to do their best and be the best that they can be. And then just her sheer ability is always a good a game-changer. Whenever she gets a kill, it just turns around the momentum.”

Yeadon said she’s learned what type of leader she wants to be from those who led the team when she was a younger player.

“It’s tough to be in that tight situation when the tough games really matter. I want to be calm and confident at all times and I want people to be able to look to me and [think], ‘It’s OK,’” Yeadon said. “I think Sara Lindquist was like that for me. She was definitely a player I could always look to and [think], ‘She’s smiling. If she’s smiling, it can’t be that bad.’ I definitely want to be that for the other players because that really helped me.”

This year hasn’t been without adversity for MI volleyball. The Islanders have had to deal with Robinson missing action due to an ankle sprain, a stretch that has seen the Islanders suffer their first two losses of the season (Yeadon was also out of action for one of those losses). Though the team expects to have their starting setter back for the postseason, Rindlaub equated losing Robinson to a football team losing its starting quarterback. Yeadon echoed that sentiment, though she added that adversity wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for a team with such high hopes.

“We need to know how to handle a loss and we need to know what it feels like to lose so that we don’t let that happen when it really matters,” Yeadon said.

Rindlaub said in her mind, volleyball is the ultimate team sport because “you can’t ever just have one person touch the ball and you can’t win a game with one person or two people.” That being said, the Mercer Island volleyball coach acknowledges Yeadon as a rare talent to have in her program.

“There’s still going to be lots of great players left when she graduates, but she is an exceptional player who doesn’t come around very often and so I definitely have a desire to make the most of [Yeadon’s senior season], and not just for her, but for all the girls who are playing with her,” Rindlaub said. “I think they know that this year, we have a chance to do something really great and [Yeadon] is a big reason why.

“Any senior you have, whether it’s Jemma or any other senior, you always want them to leave with the best memory possible. It’s not always about winning, but just doing whatever is the best that your team can do, and to accomplish something great that they can be really, really proud of.”

While a state championship may be the goal, regardless, Yeadon says going out with the current group she’s with makes this a fitting year for her final season.

“I’m really glad that I’m finishing this year with this team because I think we have so much potential,” Yeadon said. “I get emotional about it because I don’t want to leave. I’ve been in this program since I was in sixth grade, watching my sister through. It’s going to be sad to say goodbye.

“I’m so grateful I get to finish with such a strong group of girls, and I think I look to them as much as they look to me. I know that if I get down a point, there’s someone to back me up, which is really nice. I’m definitely glad to finish with them this season.”