File photo

The defending Pacific Conference champs faced their first H-DNL opponent of the year on Tuesday night and came away with a straight sets win.

The Eureka Loggers, who ended a seven-year wait to claim a Big 5 (now Pacific Conference) championship last fall, continued their early-season preparation against Ferndale and won 25-16, 25-8, 25-17.

The Loggers, who also went 2-2 at the Chico tournament over the weekend, improved to 3-2.

The Cats, according to Eureka head coach Stephanie Napoleon, gave the defending conference champs a good early-season test.

“We started out a little sluggish, but kudos to the Ferndale coach, she had her players ready and they were supper scrappy and consistent,” Napoleon said. “We had some really long rallies.”

Senior Alena Battle got her final high school year off to a good start and led the Eureka girls with 13 kills and also had a block, while reigning conference MVP Tiarah Maualuga added seven kills and three blocks.

Setters Violla Kingsang and Ramona Dusel also impressed in the win, finishing with 14 and 12 assists, respectively, while libero Eddy Hale finished with 22 digs and a pair of kills from the back row.

No stats from Tuesday’s game were immediately available for Ferndale.

The Loggers will continue their preparation for conference play when they travel to play Pacific Conference rival Fortuna on Thursday.