Mercer Island girls tennis saw a nine-year undefeated streak in KingCo competition come to an end Thursday, falling to Interlake 4-3 at Mercer Island High School.

According to the Reporter archives, it was the Islanders’ first league loss since April 5, 2007, when then-3A-rival Skyline beat Mercer Island 7-2.

Mercer Island coach Carol Gullstad said while her players were disappointed, they were also eager to bounce back.

“The takeaway for the girls was if you looked at their faces, you couldn’t tell if they won or lost the match,” Gullstad said. “They were really resilient, like ‘I’m going to learn from this, I’m going to get them next time.'”

The difference in Thursday’s match was in singles competition, where Interlake swept. Angel Le won the No. 1 singles match over Sammy Sweet 6-3, 6-1. Jessica Liang took the No. 2 match against Caroline Hamilton, winning 6-2, 6-3.

Shreyaa Mukund defeated Sarah Sweet in the No. 3 match 6-3, 6-1, and Lina Larson won the No. 4 match over Grace Bethards 6-0, 6-4.

Mercer Island won out in doubles play. Miji Suhr and Claire Mansfield took the No. 1 doubles match 6-3, 6-2. Chloe Gage and Fiona Brasfield won the No. 2 doubles match 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), and Kimia Preston and Caroline Harkins won the No. 3 doubles match 6-3, 6-2.

Former Mercer Island tennis coach Mindy Blakeslee was in attendance at Thursday’s match. Her daughter Josie is a member of the Mercer Island tennis team.

“It was such a great run and a tribute to the great team Interlake has,” Blakeslee said. “It definitely would’ve happened if I was coaching, too. Interlake has a really, really good team.”

Gullstad said she thought Thursday’s match could’ve ended 4-3 in favor of either team. She said her team was about as upbeat after a loss as anyone could be and was focusing on their season theme of Team 53, or Mercer Island’s 53rd girls tennis team.

“They have a great attitude about it,” Gullstad said. “They’re not letting one match dictate the whole season, it’s literally one match. Even though there’s the weight of Mercer Island history, for them it’s Team 53.”