Despite a season of lineup shuffling, the Mercer Island girls golf team accumulated a 7-1 record and was looking forward to having all of the team’s top golfers available against Bellevue Thursday at Overlake Golf Course.

But regardless of having one of their strongest showings, the Islanders suffered their second loss of the season and first loss in KingCo competition, with the Wolverines besting Mercer Island by six strokes, 223-229.

Heading into the meet, Islander coach Don Papasedero called it a pivotal match in the race for the 2A/3A KingCo title.

“This team has enough firepower to beat us,” Papasedero said of Bellevue prior to the match. “Interlake also does. But we’re worried more about us than them.

“In most years, we win with depth. We get a lot of kids that throw 40s. This year, [Bellevue and Interlake] are doing the same thing. They’re getting scores like we normally have gotten.”

The team score of 229 was the Islanders’ best team score through three league meets, which was no coincidence as Mercer Island had its full lineup available and in action. Papasedero noted his team has seen its share of lineup changes this season due to illness and ineligibilities. Consequently, the Islanders have seen their team average hover higher than usual, which Papasedero said made for a tougher season on the links than it would appear.

“Specifically, we haven’t had all our girls in the lineup at one time. We feel like we’ve got seven or maybe eight girls who can throw 40s out here. The most we’ve had is three at a time this year,” he said. “I think that plus the concept of having so many young players. We are really kind of an experienced team, but we’ve only had one senior and [two] juniors in the lineup. They’re pretty young.”

Papasedero said some of the team’s highlights through the first eight meets of the season included winning the Bellingham Invitational March 31 against 20 other teams. The next day, the Islanders scored a win over 4A school Lewis and Clark in Spokane.

He credited Ella Warburg, Estey Chen and Abby Zhong for performing above their expected averages.

“All three of them have been throwing 42 to 45 [strokes] all year and they’ve paid the price to do it,” he said. “They’re hard workers and they like it.”

The Islanders’ previous loss came in a preseason matchup with Interlake, with the Saints winning by three strokes on March 21 at Jefferson Golf Course. The Islanders will get another shot at the Saints Thursday at Tam O’Shanter Country Club in Bellevue.

With the team’s lineup potentially coming to form just before season’s end, Papasedero hopes the Islanders are able to continue lowering their team score as the postseason nears.

“If it’s true that we’re improving and kind of getting our whole lineup together, win or lose, this is a good checkup, state of the union kind of thing,” he said.