After seeing its title defense come to an end in the quarterfinal round of the state tournament against Auburn Riverside Friday night, Mercer Island volleyball wanted to make sure they had something to show for an otherwise strong season.

Winning out in the consolation bracket on Saturday, the Islanders finished the 3A state volleyball tournament with a three-set sweep over Southridge, winning 27-25, 27-25 and 25-19 to earn the fifth place trophy at St. Martin’s University.

While it wasn’t the ending the defending 3A state champs were hoping for, the Islanders were happy not to go away empty-handed.

“It’s not the trophy that we came here for, but I’m still incredibly proud of this team,” coach Susan McKay said after the match. “They showed a lot of heart, especially in this morning’s match, and beating Southridge in three was a great accomplishment.”

The Islanders opened the tournament with a 3-0 sweep over Marysville-Pilchuck before falling to eventual champion Auburn Riverside 3-1. Although in defeat, Mercer Island was the only team to win a game against the Ravens throughout the state tournament.

Early Saturday morning, it didn’t look like Mercer Island would even make it to the fifth-place match. The Islanders had their hands full with Kamiakin, struggling to get kills past the Braves’ domineering front line. Trailing 2-1 after three sets, the Islanders managed to even the match with a 25-20 win in the fourth game. Then after falling behind 4-0 early in the decisive fifth set, Mercer Island fought back to close out with a 15-12 win.

It was in the fifth set that McKay turned to her seniors, bringing in senior captain Felicia Ng, who had seen little action due to a lingering knee injury this season.

“I wanted the seniors to kind of figure out whether we win or lose and leave it up to them,” McKay said. “[Ng] has worked so hard all season and had such a good attitude, and her knee is just good enough that she was able to play today, so I wanted to give her the chance.”

While not expecting to see action, Ng wanted to make sure things went differently Saturday than they did a week earlier in a five-set district finals loss to Lakeside.

“I think a big thing with Lakeside was that we lost trust in each other,” Ng said. “[Against Kamiakin], we were like ‘we can’t let that happen again.’ We had to trust each other and go 100 percent no matter what.”

Jemma Yeadon, who had 23 kills for the Islanders against Kamiakin and 19 kills against Southridge, said even though the Islanders couldn’t go home with the state championship trophy, it was important they came away with something to show for all the hard work the team put in this season.

“We know if we had played our best and been on our ‘A’ game, this could’ve been a very different situation and we could’ve been higher, so that part is frustrating,” Yeadon said. “But it’s definitely good that we finished strong and won everything else.”