Submitted photos – The Eureka seniors.

The Eureka Loggers ended a seven-year wait for a Big 5 championship in volleyball with a straight sets win over Fortuna on Thursday night.

But there’s still plenty to play for.

With one round of conference games remaining, there still could be a three-way tie for the Big 5.

The Arcata Tigers also won on Thursday night, defeating McKinleyville in straight sets and closing out conference play with a record of 6-2.

On Tuesday the 6-1 Loggers will travel to Crescent City to play Del Norte (5-2) where a win for the visitors would secure the championship outright, or a win for the hosts would result in a three-way split.

The Warriors had a bye in conference play on Thursday.

The Eureka girls, to their credit, have led wire to wire in the race for this year’s championship and have taken care of business at every step of the way with the exception of a five-sets loss at Arcata.

The big question now is can they finish strong in a Del Norte gym that is considered the most difficult in the Big 5 for visiting teams, while going up against a program that has has long been considered one of the very best in H-DNL volleyball.

On Thursday, Eureka continued to roll with a 25-8, 25-14, 25-21 win over the Huskies.

And all three of the Loggers seniors — Macy Secor, Kaitlynn Whitehead and Makenna McNamara — played a role in the win.

Secor finished with 10 digs and three kills, while McNamara had five assists and Whitehead had a kill.

All three seniors have left their mark on the program, and that was acknowledged on an emotional senior night.

“The impact they have left on this program was evident with all the tears from players, families and friends as they took to their home court one last time,” Eureka head coach Stephanie Napoleon said. 

Alena Battle also played a key role in the win and finished with 10 kills, while teammate Tiarah Maualuga finished with eight kills and three aces and Viola Kingsang added nine assists.

The Arcata seniors

The Eureka seniors with their teammates before Thursday night’s game.

The Arcata girls, meanwhile, kept their chances of a co-championship alive with a 25-15, 25-13, 25-11 win over McKinleyville on their senior night.

This year’s Tigers team features eight seniors — Josie Cunningham, Harper Appy, Ava Zavala, Nora Brumbaugh, Pearl Smith, Ilana Maclay, Aliyah Aaron and Lucy Dieker — and all eight saw game time in Thursday’s regular season home finale.

“All eight seniors contributed to the win with excellent net play and defense,” Arcata head coach Laurie Griffith said.

One of the stories of the night was Cunningham’s return to the court.

The multi-sport Arcata standout suffered a major knee injury earlier in the season, but made a brief appearance against the Panthers, serving seven times and contributing a pair of aces.

“We will really miss this class of players,” Griffith added. “They are hard workers with great attitudes. Each one took their role and excelled in it.”

Brunbaugh finished with a team-best 10 kills in the win, while Smith had six kills and Appy, Colby Eisner and Kyla Kinyon each chipped in five kills.