The North Coast Section volleyball playoff brackets and seeds will be released this weekend, with the postseason set to get under way next week.
The local regular season officially concluded this week, and on Thursday night Ferndale rallied to beat St. Bernard’s in an exciting Redwood League playoff game to decide which of the league’s co-champs received the league’s automatic bid for the Section postseason.
With that win, Ferndale should open at home next week, giving Wildcats fans the opportunity to cheer their team on and pack the Ferndale gymnasium.
As Pacific League champs, the Eureka Loggers also are guaranteed an NCS bid and will also likely open in front of their home fans.
As of Friday evening, the Eureka girls are the highest ranked local team, as they should be.
Head coach Stephanie Napoleon and her players have been the best team in the H-DNL over the course of the season, going a very impressive 13-1 against H-DNL opposition this fall.
Their only loss to an HDN team came against Arcata early in league play, but they responded by winning six straight games against Pacific League teams, dropping just one set in that impressive run.
The question now is can they carry that momentum into the postseason as they look to make a big run.
The Loggers (26-6) are ranked No. 47 out of 165 programs in the NCS, according to MaxPreps, which is 22 spots ahead of No. 69 Arcata (16-13), the second highest-ranked local team.
Eureka is also No 8 in the Division 3, seven spots ahead of the No. 15 Arcata girls, who are also expected to make the playoff field.
The Del Norte Warriors (10-12), who finished third in the Pacific League, are No. 83 overall in the NCS and No. 17 in Division 3.
Also ranked in the top 100 are the Ferndale girls (18-9-1).
The Cats are co-champs of the Redwood League with St. Bernard’s (12-18-1), which was their first league title in 13 years.
They are ranked No. 95 in the NCS and No. 5 in Division 6.
St. Bernard’s, which is also expected to make the postseason, is No. 109 overall and No. 12 in Division 5.
