>Local youth soccer players get a chance to see high school teams in action

>We have just been sent his item of interest concerning tonight’s Mount Si-Bellevue girls’ soccer game if you are associated with local youth soccer, courtesy of the Mount Si girls’ soccer booster club:

“The Snoqualmie Valley Youth Soccer Association teams will be attending the Mt. Si Girls JV and Varsity home games. Their youth coaches will have scrimmages with each other during the JV game on the lower playing field, and the young girls will form a “tunnel” for the Varsity players to run through at the beginning of the Varsity game. Also, one of our ASB spring auction items was a raffle for two girls to win a “day in the life of a Mt. Si soccer player” package. Coach Darren Brown will escort these two girls to the concession stand for their “dinner” that they won…… a hotdog, pop, chips and a candy. The two girls will be hanging out with the Varsity team during warm-ups and sitting on the bench during the game. We also will be giving these two girls special tee shirts to wear tonight as well, which Coach Brown will hand to them in the locker room. Attendance should be high, and it should be inspirational for the girls and their families who attend.”

Admission BTW is free for players in uniform tonight.

For those of you who will not be able to make it, we will be there and will have a live Twitter broadcast of the contest tonight starting at 7:30. It’ll be at the lower right corner on this homepage.

>SnoValleySports commentary: Mount Si volleyball’s big win a sign of things to come

>Last night’s big win by Mount Si volleyball over rival Mercer Island (see our story on the Valley Record website) was significant in a couple of ways. First, it put the Wildcats up two games in the Kingco standings over the Islanders, and secondly, the way they got it done suggests this team could be primed for big things down the road.

The win was surprising in that at least as long as this editor has been covering games for your local newspaper – nine years now – we have never seen a Mount Si team thoroughly dominate a Mercer Island team like we saw last night especially in sets one and three. The usual match between these two teams is four or five sets, is tight throughout, and there are sometimes little things which add spice to the contest.

The Wildcats now go into the second half of the schedule on fairly open road, if they continue to play the way they are capable of they will win the league title. A couple of players who really stood out last night were Catie Fry and Lauren Smith. Fry, the CWU-bound senior setter, had a solid night despite nursing a thumb injury which had kept her out of action since the late stages of last Saturday’s Kent Classic. And Smith, a sophomore who had 25 assists in Fry’s absence Monday in the Wildcats’ win over Bellevue, continued her strong play with solid serving and excellent defensive efforts. Both of these ladies have been counted on this season for great play; that will need to continue in the second half. With Fry’s injury, that could be a little much to ask, but with the league the way it is and Mount Si going into a lean part of the schedule, the guess is maybe they will be able to rest her some next week.

As for the Islanders, they are a young team which has just wrapped up a pretty tough week, with two losses which for MI observers may have been head-scratchers as well, first falling to Liberty, then being dominated like they were last night. The challenge for the Islanders now is they have to respond to this adversity, and in a young team like this, that could be a question mark. Confidence is key in teams like this, and a week like the one MI just finished could test that a bit. We trust though that the Islanders coaching staff, led by head coach Susan Rindlaub, will be able to work some magic and get them back on track. That is a good team there, and it is well-coached, in our view. We wish the Islanders luck the rest of the way and look forward to a very good match at the end of the season between the Wildcats and MI on the island.

>From the colleges last night….

>We have action from both the two-year and four-year schools for you. Headliners:

-The highlight of the two games involving local four-year college competitors is on the volleyball floor, where Idaho redshirt freshman Miranda Pratt, former MSHS volleyball star from North Bend, had seven kills, but it was not enough as the Vandals fell in a five-set thriller to in-state rival Boise State25-22, 25-22, 24-26, 19-25, 15-10.

-The rest of the highlights are from the community colleges. First, volleyball, where ex-MSHS’er Robyn Schirmer, a freshman for Blue Mountain CC in Pendleton, OR who is from North Bend, had 33 assists and 5 digs to help BMCC blow out Idaho’s Treasure Valley CC in three. Also, women’s soccer saw two ex-Wildcats have big roles for Bellevue’s team in their big win over Olympic. BC freshman Jessica Oliver, who graduated from Mount Si in 2008, scored twice and sophomore Brittney Conway, who is an ’09 MSHS grad, added two assists as BC took care of Olympic 6-2.

Here’s the board.

Men’s Soccer

Cal State Bakersfield falls to Cal Poly-SLO 2-1
Keeyan Ghazanfarpour (CSUB/So/Carnation/CHS) 1 shot, not on goal
Evan Fassler (CSUB/So/Duvall/CHS) DNP

Volleyball
Idaho falls to Boise State 25-22, 25-22, 24-26, 19-25, 15-10
Miranda Pratt (IDA/RFr/North Bend/MSHS) 7 kills

Wenatchee Valley CC falls to Spokane CC 23-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-18
Crystal Canady (WVCC/So/Carnation/CHS) 2 assts, 11 digs

Blue Mountain CC over Treasure Valley CC 25-8, 25-7, 25-15
Robyn Schirmer (BMCC/Fr/North Bend/MSHS) 33 assts, 5 digs

Bellevue falls to Edmonds CC 28-26, 28-26, 17-15, 24-26, 16-14
Amber Shields (BC/Fr/Duvall/CHS) Played two sets, no major stats of note

Women’s Soccer
Bellevue over Olympic 6-2
Jessica Oliver (BC/Fr/Sammamish/MSHS ’08) 2 goals
Brittney Conway (BC/So/Snoqualmie/MSHS) 2 assts

>College scoreboard for Tuesday, September 28

>A few items this morning.

First, golf.

-We start in Aurora, OR, where Boise State’s women came from the back of the pack and finished a solid eighth in the Rose City Collegiate tournament, out of 15 teams entered. Several golfers showed considerable improvement in their scores yesterday from the ones they had Monday, but none bigger than junior, and former Mount Si girls’ star, Katie Somers. Somers, who now calls Issaquah home, fired a 72, improving her score by 11 shots over her second round score Monday (83). That, combined with the efforts of her teammates, helped BSU eke out Wyoming by one shot for that eighth place finish. The 72 tied for her college career best score, according to a school news release. Nice work Katie.

-Montana State Billings’ men’s team also showed some improvement, as they finished 13th as a team in the WWU tournament in Bellingham. Scores of their golfers yesterday also showed improvement over the Monday scores; this included freshman Brad Harrelson, former Mount Si boys’ golfer from Snoqualmie, who carded a 74, besting his second round score from Monday (78).

-From the links to the soccer pitch, where Fairfield’s women (Nikki Stanton/RFr/North Bend) are having trouble scoring goals. The Stags were shut out for the third consecutive game last night, falling to Princeton 2-0. Stanton played but did not find her way onto the stat sheet.

-From there to the volleyball floor, we go to Fullerton, CA, where Hope International gave league rival Point Loma Nazarene from San Diego a little run for their money, before falling to the visitors in four. PLN wins 22-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-19. HIU junior Sine Schirmer, former Mount Si player from North Bend, pitched in five kills, an assist and a dig to aid the Royal efforts.

>Week 10 football playoffs announced

>You may be interested in reading this from Mason Kelley at the Times, he put an item up on his blog concerning the Week 10 play-in matchups.

It’s a good read, but if you don’t have time to look at it, or just want to focus on Mount Si, here’s the skinny according to what he reports for Kingco 3A.

Kingco gets 4 play-in berths. Here’s what those entail, according to the item.

-Kingco’s 1st and 2nd place teams will have home games in week 10. Kingco’s champion will host Metro’s #5 with the winner being the Sea-King’s #1 seed. It’s a little early yet to be assessing who might land there from Metro, but whoever it is will probably have a difficult time with the Kingco opponent in this slot. Kingco’s #2 will host the Wesco #3 from Snohomish County, with the winner becoming the Northwest District’s #4 seed. Again, a bit early to be pinning anyone in here yet, but based on their current standings, it looks like three or four schools may be battling for this slot, this list includes Everett, Oak Harbor, Shorecrest or Mountlake Terrace. The winner here, as a #4 seed, likely gets a road game to open round one of the state playoffs.

-Kingco’s 3rd and 4th place teams will play away with the Kingco #3 going to play the Seamount’s #1 team, winner to be the West Central District’s #3 with a likely first round road game while the Kingco #4 heads north to meet Wesco #1 for the Northwest District’s #1 seed and a first round home game. Again it’s early, but the way things are going, it looks as if it could be Foster or Kennedy the Kingco #3 team would have to face. But Bremerton is also a possibility in this slot as they are part of the Seamount allocation this fall even though they are not a member of the league. The top teams in Wesco right now look to be Meadowdale or Glacier Peak, so those teams could be on tap in week 10 for Kingco’s #4.

So where does Mount Si fit in all this? The next three weeks will be key, obviously, so we’ll just have to see. But as you saw in our fall previews of football in the Valley Record, coach Charlie Kinnune’s goal is to have his team playing what he calls a “significant” week 10 contest. And by significant, that means playoffs, since the guess is that if they are in, they will win that game and go to state. Mount Si is 3-0 in these play-ins since this format was introduced a few years ago, outscoring their opponents in these games by a large margin.

It’s worth discussing, so the forum’s yours. Post in comments.

>Mount Si volleyball scores solid win at Bellevue and strong finish at Kent Classic

>EDITOR’S NOTE: Probably no room in the paper for this, so we run here.

Mount Si’s volleyball team scored another league win last night, against the Bellevue Wolverines. Mount Si won 25-14, 25-18, 25-14 behind a couple of strong performances. Senior Zoe Gogan continued her solid season thus far with another 18 kill, seven dig performance to lead the Wildcat cause, but it was the efforts of sophomore Lauren Smith which were noteworthy. With senior Catie Fry apparently not playing (there were no stats reported on the CWU commit) Smith filled Fry’s shoes well with a 25 assist, eight dig, five ace performance. Aubrey Larion added 17 digs to pace the Wildcats.

Hopefully Fry will be back in time for tomorrow’s huge home match with MI – we’ve already discussed that some here today, it is a big match for sure.

This win at Bellevue came off a solid effort at the Kent Classic tournament last Saturday. Mount Si finished tied for eighth in the 29-team event which had some solid competition, such as Camas and Seattle Prep. The Wildcats blew through pool play with wins over Rogers of Puyallup and Lake Stevens before posting solid efforts against Bellarmine Prep and the Papermakers, beating BP and tying Camas. They then fell to the Panthers in the playoff bracket in three close sets to take eighth.

As noted, MS meets MI tomorrow at 7:00 p.m.

>Mount Si volleyball gets nice assist

>More on the Wildcats’ win later on from last night – they did win again – but if you are on the fence about coming to tomorrow’s home date with MI, here’s a real good reason to come: this could be for the inside track to the Kingco title. Here’s why..

Mercer fell last night. Yes, they lost. Liberty got them in five last night, winning the fifth and deciding set after the Islanders forced that frame with a hard-fought win in the fourth set. This MI loss puts the Islanders a game back in the league standings (MI now 5-1, Mount Si is unbeaten at 6-0 league, including a three-set sweep over Liberty to open the league schedule Sept. 7), so this game becomes even bigger now for both teams, as a Mount Si win would put the Wildcats in front by two games and with the way things have been going and the way this team has been playing, such a lead could be large enough to give Mount Si the open road to the league title.

So if you want to see some good volleyball, come out tomorrow and catch this game. You will not be disappointed. 7:00 first serve, admission is $6 to get in for adults. And if this rivalry the last couple of years has been any indication, there might be a few side fireworks as well.

>College golf and soccer from last night…

>Yesterday had three events involving Valley college athletes, two golf and one soccer. Here’s what went down.

-First, in Orange, CA, on the soccer pitch, Chapman’s men’s soccer team scored a 3-1 win over winless Caltech. Chapman junior Brett Richardson, from Duvall and a graduate of Cedarcrest HS, picked up an assist in the contest; he assisted a goal in the 88th minute by teammate Francesco Onorati which locked the match up.

-Now to the golf links, we start in Aurora, OR, where Boise State’s women’s team finds itself in 11th as a team at the Rose City Collegiate tournament after round one. Bronco junior Katie Somers, from Issaquah and a former Mount Si star, fired rounds of 82 and 83 to finish at 165, 21 over par on the par 72 course. That left her in a tie for 66th overall in the tournament.

Meanwhile, up in Bellingham, MSU Billings’ men also struggled at the Western Washington tournament, as they are in last place among the 15 teams competing as a team after day one. Yellowjacket freshman Brad Harrelson, from Snoqualmie and former Mount Si golfer, carded rounds of 77 and 78 to finish with a 155, 11 over par on that par 72 layout. This score left Harrelson tied for 64th overall.

We’ll keep you posted on how things go on the links.

>College scoreboard for yesterday…

>The remaining games from yesterday involving local collegians we didn’t get to we now mention here. Only one item of note, and that is Linfield men’s soccer goalkeeper Cody Tipton, sophomore from North Bend and former Mount Si goalkeeper, combined with teammate Jon Thompson on a shutout in goal as Linfield rolled to a big win over in-state rival George Fox.

The board:

Men’s Soccer
Chico State over Sonoma State 2-0
Sam Evans (CSU/Fr/Snoqualmie/MSHS) DNP

Linfield over George Fox 7-0
Cody Tipton (LIN/So/North Bend/MSHS) Played second half, one save, combined on a shutout with teammate Jon Thompson

Women’s Soccer
Puget Sound over Whitman 1-0
Stephanie Burk (WHIT/So/Fall City/MSHS) DNP

>Athletes of the Week for September 29

>Girls this week for our Athletes of the Week. We will be running these here until further notice.

MOUNT SI-This week, the award goes to freshman cross country runner Bailey Scott. Scott ran a personal-best time of 21:37.22 at last Saturday’s Bellevue Invite at Lake Sammamish State Park. Scott is one of two freshmen who is generating some buzz within the Wildcat program and fans can look for more good efforts from this young lady both the rest of this season and within the next four years.

CEDARCREST-Volleyball this week, as the team picked up its first league win of the season last Thursday, and the performance of senior outside hitter Hannah Smythe was key. Smythe ripped 23 kills to help lead the Red Wolves to the victory over South Whidbey in a wild five-set thriller. Smythe’s efforts will continue to aid the Wolves as they look to climb out of the back of the pack in the Cascade Conference, and her performance this past Thursday earns her the AotW honors for this week.

Congrats, ladies.