Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Arcata’s Maya Mircetich (9) in action on Tuesday night.

The Arcata girls maintained their unbeaten start to the Big 5 in volleyball with a straight sets win at home to McKinleyville on Tuesday night.

The Tigers won 25-19, 25-22, 25-22, improving to 2-0 in league play.

The Panthers dropped to 1-1 in the Big 5 and 11-5 overall.

For Arcata, the unbeaten start is a welcome change of pace from a year ago.

“Last year we started out 0-3, so 2-0 is much better,” head coach Laurie Griffith said.

Myah Mircetich led the Tigers in kills with 15, while Lola Renteria finished with 41 assists.

Ella Day also had a big game, finishing with nine kills while Lilli Bowman had 17 digs.

Griffith was happy with her team’s performance, but felt there is still room for improvement.

“I felt like we did a lot of stuff we’ve been working on, so I was kind of happy with that,” the head coach said. “But we kind of lost momentum in the middle.”

Lexi White led the McKinleyville girls with 19 assists and 16 digs, while teammate Cameron Heenan had 11 digs, four kills and two service aces.

Libero Kylee Townsend continued her impressive season with 11 digs and no errors on her serve receiving.

McKinleyville’s Kylee Townsend

Hailee Henry had four blocks and Rian Heenan seven kills and a pair of blocks.

Arcata has a bye in league play on Thursday, while McKinleyville travels to Fortuna.

Coaches who wish to have their team’s scores and stats included in our nightly roundups can email details to humboldtsports1@gmail.com.

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Ray Hamill writes at humboldtsports.com, where you can read lots more about sports in Humboldt County.