Competing in the 3A KingCo boys tennis tournament Oct. 19-20 at Mercer Island High School, Mercer Island took home the KingCo tournament title, advancing three doubles teams and one singles player to the Sea-King district tournament next spring.

Mercer Island won with a team score of 28. Bellevue placed second, scoring 17.

The second day of the tournament was nearly all Islanders, with the final two rounds of doubles competition featuring only Mercer Island teams. The Islanders also occupied two of the four semifinal berths in singles competition. With the top three finishers of each bracket moving on, the Islanders were guaranteed at least four district qualifiers.

Christian Anderson and Chris Elliot won the 3A KingCo doubles title, defeating teammates Jake Bethards and Caden Conder 6-4, 6-0. Ben Bethards and Jarod Wong won the third-place match over teammates Jonah Tang and Kevin Chen 6-3, 6-3. The top three teams earned district spots, while Tang and Chen will serve as alternates.

Bellevue’s Theo McDonald won the 3A KingCo singles title, defeating teammate Zach Fleischman in the final 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Brandon Wong beat teammate Nils Harder in the third-place match 6-0, 6-0. Harder, who finished the tournament battling a groin injury, will serve as the singles alternate for districts.

Mercer Island coach Ryan Pang said getting four district qualifiers was crucial to the Islanders’ pursuit of a sixth-straight 3A state title. But he said if the Islanders hope to achieve their goal, they’ll have to put in the work during the winter downtime before the tournament in May.

“Our doubles [teams] have to get better, they’ll have to work a lot harder,” Pang said. “If anyone wants to win state, they’ll definitely have a lot of work to do.

“Anything can happen between now and May. They can practice, they can get injured, they can get sick, who knows. But I think they should all improve. They have a goal in mind and they have six months to practice. I feel pretty good about it.”

The 3A Sea-King district tournament will take place May 17-18 at Lower Woodland Park.