Volleyball team to play in league tourney
November 4, 2008
By Ryan Piersol
When the Mount Si volleyball team enters the KingCo Tournament this weekend, it will do it on the heels of nine league wins this fall and a 2007 season in which the Wildcats qualified for the state tournament.
Still, Mount Si will be in hunting mode.
That’s because, despite all their success, the Wildcats are not the most sought-after team at the league tournament. Mercer Island bears that honor after going 12-0 through its league schedule and a whopping 15-0 through the entire regular-season schedule.
Included in the Islanders wins, of course, were two defeats of Mount Si.
The Wildcats promise they’re not focused on Mercer Island, yet also know that if they’re to win the league tourney, they’ll most likely have to defeat the Islanders.
“It would be a very good matchup between us, but I think we’re just really excited to see how far we can make it this season,” senior Mackenzie Peerboom said. “We lost twice to them, but the second time we played them, we showed some improvement. We’ll be really excited to play them again.”
Since it finished second in the league, Mount Si received a bye in the first round of the tournament. It will take on the winner of Juanita and Interlake at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The finals of the tournament are set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
Each of the Wildcats’ losses to Mercer Island were competitive. Mount Si lost in five sets on Sept. 17 and in four sets Oct. 13. The Wildcats have come closer to beating the Islanders than anyone else on Mercer Island’s schedule.
“Both matches were really close and they were back and forth. In order to beat them, we just have to stay confident and use what we’ve learned,” senior Bethany Frieler said. “Passing and serving is really important against them, because they’re really good in those areas.
“Mostly, we just need to work on having fun. When we have fun, we’re awesome. When we have fun, we forget about everything else and all the pressures that go along with it.”
Mount Si’s only other league loss this season was to Juanita. The Wildcats are 9-3 in the league and 11-4 overall.
Frieler admitted she’s felt the pressure for the team to succeed after a 2007 season in which the Wildcats placed eighth at the state tournament, their highest finish since 1990. She cautions that any comparisons between this year’s team and last year’s could be unfair, but that there are similarities.
“It’s a completely different team, because we lost six seniors last year. Going into this year, it was almost like a fresh start,” Frieler said. “There’s a bit of pressure, but a lot of it has to do with bringing another great season to the team to let all the other players who haven’t played at state know what it’s like.
“It’s tough to compare season-to-season. Statistic-wise, we might be a little stronger than we were last year. But that’s tough to compare, because our league is different than it was, too.”
The top four teams that come out of the league tournament will advance to the district tournament, scheduled for Nov. 13-15 at West Seattle and Sammamish High Schools.
Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.
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