Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Arcata girls hosted Pinole Valley in the opening round of the NCS playoffs on Wednesday night.

Three of the five H-DNL teams in action in the North Coast Section volleyball playoffs on Wednesday night have advanced to the quarterfinals.

But they had to battle.

The two Division-4 games featuring local teams both went five sets.

At Eureka High, the Big 5 champion Loggers, who are seeded No. 5, got the better of conference rival and No. 12 seed Del Norte for the third time this year.

The home team won 17-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-15, 16-14, and all three matchups between the two schools this season have gone the full five sets.

Eureka advances to play No. 4 Kelseyville in Saturday night’s quarterfinal.

Also in Division 4, the No. 6 Arcata Tigers hosted No. 11 Pinole Valley in an exciting five-set showdown, but lost the matchup 25-23, 25-27, 26-24, 12-25, 15-11.

In Division 6, St. Bernard’s and Ferndale both won their playoff openers.

The No. 11 Wildcats upset the odds on the road at No. 6 Cornerstone Christian in another showdown that went the full five sets.

No final score was immediately available, but the Ferndale girls will play at No. 3 Laytonville in Saturday night’s quarterfinal.

The No. 5 Crusaders, meanwhile, got the better of No. 12 Brave Christian in straight sets, 25-18, 25-16, 25-12.

The St. Bernard’s girls will now play at No. 4 St. Vincent de Paul on Saturday night.

We’ll have a full recap of all of the playoff games with photos and video highlights on Thursday.

There St. Bernard’s bench cheers on the team during Wednesday night’s game.

The Eureka players react during Wednesday night’s playoff game.

The Del Norte Warriors