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The Eureka girls overcame what head coach Stephanie Napoleon described as a sluggish start to their volleyball match against Fortuna on Tuesday night to win in straight sets.

The Loggers won 25-20, 25-6, 25-12 to improve to 2-1 in the Big 5 keep pressure on conference frontrunners Del Norte and Arcata, and they can move into a three-way tie for the conference lead with a victory in Crescent City on Thursday.

The Eureka student section and fans played a role in lifting their team.

“After a sluggish start we were able to pick it up with the help of the crowd and student section,” Napoleon said. 

The Eureka girls were particularly effective serving the ball, which has been a strength of this year’s team in recent games, and they combined for 25 aces while missing on just three serves all night.

Team standout Tiara Maualuga had another big game for the home team and finished with a team-best eight kills to go with a pair of aces.

Alena Battle also continued to impress and finished with five kills and two blocks, while Samara Gaither led the way serving and had seven aces and three kills.

Baylie Battle also impressed serving the ball and had six aces as well as 10 assists.

Macy Perkins also had six aces and a kill, Eddy Hale added three aces and Aimee Rogers also had an ace.

A young Huskies team, meanwhile, started the night well and caused the home team some problems early on.

An injury to the team’s middle blocker in the second set, however, didn’t help matters.

“We are still learning and growing as a team and have shown great improvements in the last month,” Fortuna head coach Rene Drakeford said. 

Keira Miles finished with a team-high five kills in the loss, while Jaydyn Dalton dished out 12 assists to go with two aces.

Olivia Scilacci added four kills, and Maddie Roberts finished with four digs, two kills and an ace.

The Eureka JVs also won their game in two sets.