Wildcats bounced by Rainier Beach

Published 10:48 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

SNOQUALMIE – The Mount Si Wildcats’ volleyball season is over after suffering a disappointing loss to Rainier Beach of the Metro League in round one of the Sea-King District Tournament last Thursday at Liberty High School. The team was swept by the Vikings in three games. Scores were not reported to the Valley Record.

Mount Si finished its year at 9-8, but peaked at the wrong time. After a surprising 8-3 start, the team went 1-5 in its last six matches with the lone win coming on Oct. 29 at the Kingco Tournament at Liberty in a thrilling contest with Sammamish.

The Wildcats will lose a few players at graduation, and exchange student Ayana Hara, whose play clearly has been the glue to this team’s success this season, will be heading home to Japan.

However, youth stood tall late in the season and those younger players, led by Danielle Rehm and Alisha Larion, will be counted on next year to provide the spark for this Mount Si squad. They will be joined next year by Faith Hutcherson, Noel Walter and Xandy Evans, leading what will likely be a strong senior class in 2006.

With the rumored return of Skyline to Kingco 3A (the move will not be made official for several weeks), the league could get a bit stronger, possibly meaning more difficulty for the Wildcats if they want to advance into post season.