The Eureka Loggers are enjoying themselves early in the new high school volleyball season.
On Thursday night Eureka continued to roll with a straight sets win at Fortuna, their second non-conference win over an H-DNL team this week.
Also in action on Thursday night, the Arcata Tigers faced off against rival and neighbor McKinleyville and won in four sets.
Reigning conference MVP Tiarah Maualuga led the way for Eureka and finished with 12 kills, four digs, three aces and three blocks as the Loggers won 25-16, 25-8, 25-17.
More importantly, the Eureka players, who are defending conference champs, appear to be relishing the moment and brought a high level of energy to the contest.
“I loved to see the energy they had tonight and amount of fun they had celebrating each point,” head coach Stephanie Napoleon said of her players.
Alena Battle also had a good game for the visitors and chipped in eight kills , three blocks and two digs, while Ramona Dusel dished out 18 assists and also had four kills and four digs.
The loss was another learning opportunity for a very young Fortuna roster that features six freshmen.
One of those freshmen, Eva Bess, finished with three aces and five digs
Fortuna head coach Jacqueline Maschmeier described it as a tough game but said the Huskies were not upset with the performance
“Eureka is a seasoned team,” the Fortuna coach added. “We’re still working on finding our groove on the court against different opponents. Our serving wasn’t as consistent or as effective, which put us against eureka’s in-system attack.”
Currin Serigny and Bailey Henderson each added six digs in the loss, with the latter also dishing out three assists.
Quincy Sundberg and Addie Collenberg each also had five digs for the Huskies.
Violla Kingsang chipped in 12 assists and four digs for Eureka, while Eddy Hale added 15 digs, Savanhie Panhsavang had 10 digs, four aces and two kills and Zuma Kan had 10 digs and two aces.
The Huskies will try to bounce back at the NorCal tournament at Rancho Cotate this weekend.
“We’re looking forward to this weekend’s tournament where we have a tough pool of competition to play against as we get closer to regular season,” Maschmeier said.
Kinyon shines as Tigers beat the Panthers
Kyla Kinyon led the way for the Tigers on Thursday night, as they got the better of McKinleyville in four sets.
The Arcata girls won 25-13, 25-18, 21-25, 35-14.
Kinyon finished the night with 11 kills and a team-high seven blocks, while teammates Betty Miles and Ellie White each added 11 kills and Colby Eisner had eight kills and four blocks.
The win was the first of the season for the 1-4 Tigers.
“We are a young team and are improving with every match,” Arcata head coach Laurie Griffith said.
Lily D’Usseau also impressed for Arcata and finished with 12 digs and six aces, while teammate Eli Kanzler added six digs and four aces.
