The Wildcat tennis team struggled against the two best teams in Kingco 3A last week.

However, the boys of Mount Si are showing improvement each week.

Bellevue swept the Wildcats last Tuesday, Oct. 14, at Bellevue. Tyler Ostby had the best effort among Mount Si players, falling 5-7 in set one, then forcing a third set with a second-frame 6-4 win. The Wolverine opponent, Eugene Chen, got the best of Ostby in the deciding stanza, with a 10-8 result for the Bellevue player.

Ostby likes what he sees from his team.

“We’re improving a lot and as we go on, we’ll get a lot better,” he said.

All other matches were pretty much dominated by the Wolverines.

Mercer Island likewise swept Mount Si on the Wildcats’ home court last Thursday, Oct. 16. Ostby again showed his stuff, this time in doubles. He teamed with Scott Paophavihanh to take MI’s Jon Lai and Saul Tilden to three sets before falling in that decisive frame. Scores were 1-6, 6-2 and 11-9 for the Islander pair.

Stephen Salmon had a couple of good matches as well in defeat for the Wildcats.

Senior Ryan Oswald is learning a lot of new skills in the sport.

“I’ve actually been working on getting my first serve in more, and I’ve been trying to get up to the net a lot more,” he said. “I’ve gotten a lot better in serving.”

The Wildcat season is coming to a close. Scheduled matches against Liberty and Sammamish rounding out the regular season over the next few weeks.