Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Madelyn Shanahan and the St. Bernard’s Crusaders received the top seed for the NCS volleyball Division-6 tournament.

By Ray Hamill — Three of the four H-DNL teams to qualify for the North Coast Section playoffs will host their opening games this week.

And that includes a potential all-local quarterfinal showdown on Saturday in Division 6.

Little 4 champion St. Bernard’s received the top seed in Division 6 and will have an opening-round bye in the 12-team bracket.

The Crusaders will host either No. 8 Ferndale or No. 9 Anderson Valley at St. Bernard’s on Saturday night.

The Wildcats will also host their opening game, when they play the Panthers on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Del Norte and Arcata also made the playoffs in Division 4 and will open on Wednesday night.

After securing a perfect Big 5 championship last week, the Del Norte girls will host their opener.

The Warriors received the No. 7 seed and will welcome No. 10 Fort Bragg to Crescent City.

Arcata is seeded No. 9 and will open at No. 8 Kelseyville.

Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Tigers lost just two league games this fall — both to Del Norte — and are 23-9 overall, while the dominating Del Norte girls are 21-8 overall and were 8-0 in league without dropping a single set.

Both Fort Bragg and Kelseyville are 20-8 and placed one-two in the North Central League I, with league records of 14-2 and 13-3, respectively.

The Tigers are familiar with the Knights after barely losing a competitive match to them at the recent Rancho Cotate tournament by a score of 18-25, 25-21, 20-18.

“The team is excited to get another shot at them,” Arcata head coach Laurie Griffith said.

Cardinal Newman is seeded No. 1 in the 16-team D-4 bracket.

The Del Norte Warriors open the playoffs at home to Fort Bragg on Wednesday night.