Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The St. Bernard’s girls in action against Anderson Valley.

St. Bernard’s and Ferndale won their North Coast Section volleyball playoff openers on Wednesday night, but a third Little 5 team to qualify for the postseason bowed out on Tuesday.

The Crusaders are seeded No. 6 in the Division-6 bracket and hosted No. 11 Anderson Valley in their opener, winning 25-11, 25-9, 25-21.

In the same bracket, No. 10 Ferndale traveled to play No. 7 Point Arena and won a competitive five-set match, 25-17, 25-13, 10-25, 13-25, 15-9.

Both teams advance to the weekend quarterfinals and if they each win it would set up an all-local semifinal here on the North Coast next week.

On Tuesday night in Division 5, No. 13 Hoopa traveled to play No. 4 Redwood Christian and fell in straight sets by a score of 25-23, 25-17, 25-19 to end their season.

With several of their players playing a key soccer game at South Fork, the Crusaders had a limited roster available for their playoff opener, but that didn’t slow them down much.

Jocelyn Sundberg finished with a team-high eight kills in the win, while Nina Clayton and Natalie McLaughlin each added seven kills and Anna Dorsch had five.

Sundberg also had a good night serving and finished with four aces, while Clayton, Makinsey Lemley and Ella Hart each had three aces.

Clayton capped a big all-around performance with a team-best six digs, while Kayla Maples had five digs and Bailee White added four.

Hart led the team in assists with 19 and Lemley dished out 10 assists.

The Crusaders will play their quarterfinal at No. 3 North Hills Christian on Saturday night at 7.

The Wildcats, meanwhile, will play their quarterfinal at No. 2 St. Vincent de Paul, also on Saturday at 7.

Wednesday’s performance, according to head coach Jessi Grant, was a great team effort that saw the Cats rally late to take the final set for the win.

“We played amazing,” she said. “They toughened up and rallied and came back to win. I’m very happy with how they played. I’m just really proud of them.”

Clara Albee had a big night in the win and finished with six aces, six digs, three kills, five tips, nine saves and 15 assists.

Danica Dowd also made some big contributions and played “an amazing game,” according to her coach.

Dowd contributed 12 kills, eight digs, eight saves and a block, while Amaya Mathews had eight kills, eight digs, three aces, four tips, six saves, four assists and a block.

Saige Machado added eight tips, six digs, nine saves, five blocks and three aces, while Yajaira Cantu-Mendez had a run of four straight aces to help key the final set victory and she finished with four saves, four aces and three assists.

“(What impressed me) was their resilience in the way they came back,” the head coach added. “They really covered each other and they just played very well together. I’m very proud of their teamwork.”

Izzy Ellsmore added two aces and two saves in the win, while Olivia Gossi had two saves.

A talented class of six Hoopa seniors, meanwhile, saw their high school careers come to and end on Tuesday.

It was an impressive season for the Warriors, who played a very tough early-season schedule and peaked during conference play, finishing 6-2 in the L5 and in second place.

Julie Lanning and Millennia McKindley each finished with a team-high three kills on Tuesday, while McKindley also had three aces, as did Ivy Lamebear, who also had a team-best eight digs.

Harmony Nelson added a team-high 11 assists.