After suffering their first loss of the season to their Bellevue rivals two days prior, the members of the Mercer Island volleyball team found themselves fighting for first place atop the 3A/2A KingCo standings when they took on Lake Washington Thursday night.
It was a strange position for the previously undefeated Islanders, who hadn’t lost a set of volleyball since they opened their season Sept. 8. Even stranger was to see Mercer Island playing from behind through much of the first two sets.
“We were playing very tentatively and we were just sort of playing to not lose,” Mercer Island coach Susan Rindlaub said. “We talked about it in between games and I said, ‘We have to shake off everything, we’re starting over. To win, we have to play our game and swing hard.'”
Mercer Island made the most of Rindlaub’s advice the rest of the way, overcoming the early jitters to beat Lake Washington 15-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-19 at Lake Washington High School. The win gave the Islanders a half-game advantage over the Kangs for first place in their division.
It was the Kangs (8-3, 8-2 in KingCo) who held the half-game lead heading into the contest, and Lake Washington appeared to hold a mental edge as well playing on their home court. Except for an Islander ace to start the match, Lake Washington never trailed in the first game.
The Islanders (11-1, 8-1 in KingCo) were without setter Natalie Robinson, who was out nursing an ankle injury.
“We missed Natalie in a lot of ways,” Rindlaub said. “She’s who we’ve been practicing with all season. Both Jane [Gormley] and Eden [Singh] did a great job tonight, they set really well. But it’s just the rotation and all the plays that you do. It’s like not having your starting quarterback.”
Mercer Island took a 3-0 lead to start the second game, but the Kangs came storming back to take a 9-5 advantage. The Islanders crept back to tie the game 14-14 before claiming the lead for good in the 25-19 set.
“I thought we came on really strong. We had a lot of energy in the first set, and we started making some errors in the second set that really set us back,” Lake Washington coach Stephanie Kuhn said. “It was really hard to come back after that, especially with Jemma [Yeadon] on the other side, who’s a real threat.”
Yeadon was everywhere for the Islanders in the final three sets, delivering spikes and getting crucial kills to make sure the Islanders didn’t suffer their second consecutive loss. Mercer Island fought off a late Kang rally to take the third set 25-22, and played in front for most of the closing 25-19 set. Yeadon finished the match with 22 kills, 12 digs, two blocks and an ace.
“She did what Jemma always does, she’s such a competitor,” Rindlaub said. “She got very few sets in the first game, so she couldn’t really get into the action. But once she got started, there’s just no chance, some of [the balls] she hit so hard, you know no one’s going to touch them. It’s fun to watch. She led the team. She kept them together, got them pumped up and did a great job.”
Adara Hamilton had seven kills, two aces and three digs for the Islanders, and Kelly Behrbaum posted five kills. In Robinson’s absence, Eden Singh registered 24 assists and six digs, and Jane Gormley posted 12 assists and three digs.
Mercer Island has three league matches before the end of the regular season, but next face Eisenhower in a nonconference matchup at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17 at MIHS. Lake Washington has two league matches remaining, and will face Liberty at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20 at LWHS.
