The big test comes tonight against rival Bishop Blanchet.

It was a different Bainbridge volleyball team that took on Seattle Prep last Friday.

Behind a concentrated team effort, the Spartans reduced their mistakes as they swept the Panthers in three games by the scores of 25-18, 25-18 and 25-11.

It’s the fourth straight win by Bainbridge.

Despite the sweep, head coach Julie Miller said they’ve still got some work to do.

“It should have been cleaner, it should have been better, but we’re trying to work on playing the entire way through the game and limit our errors,” she said. “It was nice to win in three (games.) It’s a good confidence builder.”

Bainbridge traded the lead back and forth in the first game, but took a three point lead on three straight aces by Hannah Stuart.

Prep came back to tie it at 10, but Marijke Schwarz-Smith came up with a block while Kelcey Dunaway and Daron Vandelur scored on kills to put the Spartans up for good.

Dunaway helped the team take the game on a block on match point.

In the second game, the Panthers went up 13-8, but the Spartans rallied behind Dunaway and some errors by Prep to tie it at 15.

After Lindsey Bratonia took over on serve, Bainbridge went on a 10-3 run to close it out.

She’s noticed the play of the team has been picking up in recent weeks.

“It takes us time to get going, and we had to build up a chemistry, but once we got that, we’ve been rolling,” she said.

Stuart took care of business in the third game, using her strong arm to score several kills early, then scoring four aces to help put the game away late.

“We’re really starting to communicate more,” Stuart said. “We’re starting to jell more and that’s really important.”

Bainbridge now gets ready to face their arch rival Bishop Blanchet at 7 p.m. tonight at Paski Gymnasium.

Both teams are undefeated in league play and Bainbridge has won three out of the last four times they’ve played, including a sweep of the Braves in last season’s district tournament.

“I’m really excited for the competition,” Stuart said. “I think it’s going to be a great game and I think we’ll be prepared to meet them head on.”

The Spartans also defeated Nathan Hale by the scores of 25-16, 25-15 and 25-13 Sept. 15. and defeated Holy Names 25-16, 25-15, 21-25, 22-25 and 15-11 last Wednesday.

Gridders rally to down EC

It was their first major test of the season, but the Bainbridge football team wasn’t about to fail.

With Dayton Gilbreath rushing for a career high 193 yards, the Spartans overcame several mistakes to defeat the Eastside Catholic Crusaders 27-20 Friday at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland to win their Metro League opener and stay undefeated on the year.

“It was a barnburner,” head coach Andy Grimm said. “I really saw it as that kind of game, but I also thought we could blow them out of the water.”

The two teams were even throughout the first two quarters, as Dayton Gilbreath scored the first two touchdowns for Bainbridge, but the Spartans couldn’t convert on one of the extra points.

Quarterback Quinton Agosta scored the only points in the third quarter with a six-yard run, but Eastside Catholic stopped the Spartans from scoring twice in the fourth: once when the Crusader defense stuffed Dayton on a fourth and goal from the two yard line, then later, blocking a 26-yard field goal attempt by Kyle Scoble.

Eastside Catholic went up late in the game on a 96-yard touchdown pass from Alex Vetras to Joel Schilperoort that seemed to put the contest out of reach.

The Crusaders thought it was over when they blocked the field goal, but couldn’t get the necessary yardage to run out the clock and had to punt it back to the Spartans.

Agosta then led the team down the field quickly by hitting Bryan Gilbreath on consecutive passes including the game winner with 27 seconds left.

Bryan said the play called on the touchdown was simply a “Hail Mary.”

“It was basically everybody go long and get as close as we can and try and get a field goal,” he said. “I don’t really remember what happened. I was just focused on catching the ball and then I spun (around) and I was in the end zone.”

But Bainbridge wanted to make sure Eastside Catholic would have to score a touchdown to win, so Grimm called for Agosta to convert on the two-point conversion.

He did.

“We were trying to get down there for a field goal, because we didn’t have any timeouts,” Grimm said. “But when he (Bryan) gets in, now we gotta think about point total. So we force them to either go for the tie (or the win.)

“The big thing is, the way momentum was going, we figured they could probably move the ball (down the field,)” Grimm continued. “That’s why we did go for two, so we could put a little more pressure on them.”

Now comes the biggest test of the year, as O’Dea will make their way to the island for a game that could put the Spartans in the driver’s seat for the Mountain Division title.

While O’Dea has struggled this year, Grimm won’t take them lightly for a minute.

“You gotta be able to keep it balanced,” he said. “We have to play a mistake-free game as always against them.”

Bryan Gilbreath said they’ll have to take inspiration from another team with the nickname Fighting Irish.

“A lot of teams let up after a big win like that, like Notre Dame,” he said, referencing their loss to Michigan earlier in the season. “We want to come out fired up knowing we can beat them.”

Bryan Gilbreath finished with seven catches for 135 yards, while Agosta was 11 for 16 for 142 yards and no interceptions.

He also ran 12 times for 68 yards and picked off three passes on defense. Friday’s game is at 7 p.m.

Harriers place in top ten

The Bainbridge cross country teams did well at the Salt Creek Invitational on Sept. 16.

Captains Bevan Taylor and Emily Farrar were the top finishers of the race for the Spartans with times of 15:23 and 19:18, respectively.

Taylor finished in 11th place while Farrar placed 19th.

Also placing were Taylor Lea, Ian Shiach, Matt Tetlow, Ian Layton and Ryan Vogel for the boys and Callie McKenzie, Annie Taylor, Camille Frate, Emelie VanVleet and Mattie Molskness.

The boys finished 10th as a team, while the girls placed 12th as a team.

Both cross country teams placed second at their league meet against Nathan Hale and Seattle Prep last Wednesday.

Taylor finished second to state champ Max O’Donohugh-McDonald with a time of 16:36.

Max Welch was fourth with a time of 17:44.

Lea was 11th with a time of 18:11.

For the girls, Emily Farrar was second with a time of 21:05.

McKenzie was third with a time of 21:14, while Taylor finished ninth with a time of 22:20.

Molskness was 16th with a time of 22:35.

The Spartans have another league meet today against O’Dea and Holy Names, then travel to Mt. Baker High School in Deming for the Mt. Baker Invite on Saturday.

Their only home meet is Oct. 4 against Bishop Blanchet and Lakeside at Battle Point Park.