Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

The Eureka Loggers took a big step towards a first Big 5 championship in volleyball since 2018 with a pivotal win to close out the first half of conference play.

On Thursday night, the Loggers welcomed Del Norte to Eureka High on their annual Pink Out Night and won a thrilling five-set showdown, 25-16, 19-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-12.

Also in action in the Big 5 on Thursday night, the McKinleyville Panthers got their first conference win, defeating Fortuna in four sets.

The win lifts the Eureka girls to 4-0 in conference play with four games remaining, and they have taken control of the race for the title with victories over the Warriors (2-2) and Arcata Tigers (3-1).

The league title, however, is a long way from being decided just yet, with challenging road games for Eureka at both Arcata and Del Norte still to come.

The Del Norte girls also get to host Arcata in the second half of conference play.

But so far so good for the Loggers, who have taken care of business over the first half of conference play to put themselves in the driver’s seat in the race for the title.

“What a night,” Eureka head coach Stephanie Napoleon said. “Long rallies, loud crowd, it was just electric in the gym.”

The large crowd in attendance was certainly treated to an entertaining matchup, which went five sets, the same as Eureka’s showdown against Arcata and the Tigers’ recent showdown against Del Norte.

“So proud of our team getting the win against an excellent Del Norte team,” Napoleon added. 

The Warriors may have lost the game, but they remain in the chase for the championship.

“We’re proud of the girls, they played hard,” coach Petra Lorenzi said.  “We are right in the running. It’s going to be determined by how we decide to come out the second half (of league).

“We know what we have in front of us, We know what our challenges are. For us, being an undersized team, it’s just incredibly important that we control our controlables, focus on that and create consistency.”

Junior standout Tiarah Maualuga, who is one of this week’s Humboldt Sports Athletes of the Week, led the way for the home team once again and finished with a game-high 17 kills and three blocks, while Alena Battle got the game-winning kill and finished with 13 kills and six blocks.

Macy Secor also impressed for a deep home team and added 13 digs, seven kills and six aces, while Eddy Hale had 19 kills and two aces.

Freshman Zuma Kan turned in one of the best performances of her young career, finishing with seven digs and two aces and stepping up big with some key serves late in the game.

Also for Eureka, Ramona Dusel added 18 assists and nine digs, and Violla Kingsang had 14 assists, eight digs and three aces.

Bliss Blackburn and Makayla Blakeslee led the Warriors with eight kills apiece, while Melody Brennan finished with six kills, Bella Arriola five and Jeanna Erler three.

Sierra Brennan also had two aces for the visitors.

“We know right now where we’re sitting and anything can still happen,” Lorenzi said. “We’re still in the running, so we know we’re not out of it.”

All proceeds from the Pink Out Night’s bake sale will go towards California Cancer Crushers.

“Thank you to everyone who came out to support our teams and bake sale for a good cause,” Napoleon said.

The Eureka girls also took both the JV (25-22, 25-18) and freshmen games (25-4, 25-19).

The McKinleyville Panthers, meanwhile, have been building momentum with some good performances in recent weeks and that paid off nicely on Thursday with a four-sets win over Fortuna.

Junior Abby McCullough led the offense with a team-high 10 kills, while senior Ahty Allen had four kills.

The Mack players did a good job winning their battles at the net, but the Huskies caused the Panthers defense problems with their ball placement, according to Mack head coach Ashley Washburn.

“Fortuna did well at picking apart our defense throughout the match,” she said. 

Seniors Liana Stumpf and Ava Stucki each added two kills in the win, as did junior Lilli Loomis and sophomore Leah Han.

Junior Ava Sundberg also contributed in the win and finished with four blocks.

“Overall, we had a solid game, but there is always room for improvement,” Washburn said.

No stats were available for the Huskies.