The Juanita High volleyball team entered the season with hopes of being competitive in conference play, and the Rebels were — at least for a while.

“I feel like we played some good volleyball and we dropped a couple of five-set matches,” said Juanita coach Rob Jammerman on Monday, following the Rebels’ straight-set loss to Lake Washington. “We had that peak against Bellevue, we dropped a couple of five-set matches and then it was hard to get that momentum back.”

Juanita polished off the season with a 25-19, 25-11, 25-21 loss to Lake Washington at the Juanita Fieldhouse. The Rebels (3-11 KingCo, 3-11) fell three matches short of qualifying for the conference tournament, while Lake Washington qualified for the first round of the conference tournament with one of the lower seeds.

Lake Washington (6-8, 6-9) swept both rivalry matches with Juanita. The first match on Sept. 28 went to five sets, erasing any momentum the Rebels might have gained from edging Bellevue two nights prior.

Bellevue (10-3, 12-3) finished second in the conference standings.

Juanita hasn’t made the conference tournament since 2012, and hasn’t qualified for the Class 3A District II tournament since 2010. Last season, Juanita went 1-13 and only won three sets all year, making 2016 a big step up.

“We battled,” Jammerman said. “We were much better than what we were last year. We played three freshmen, so I have them coming back. We had some great JV players out, so I think next year looks really positive for us.”

Monday marked the final match for Juanita seniors Gabi Jordon, MacKenzie Boyce, Matea Marinkovic, Nathalia Zuluaga and Makeala White.

Next, Lake Washington is scheduled to play Interlake in the No. 4 vs. No. 5 match up in the KingCo tournament at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 26.