Vintage High School heads into the North Coast Division championship game, while the top-seeded Crushers beat No. 5 Sonoma Academy at home to advance to Saturday’s Division 4 final, 25-16, 25-17, 25-16.

Vintage (15-16) reached a division championship game for the first time since 2014, when they made the Division 2 championship game as a member of the Sac-Joaquin Section.

“Honestly, we’re just riding the wave,” Vintage head coach Kelly Porter said. “It’s been a long season and we’ve had ups and downs of emotions this season. We also had a few girls injured but we just stayed the course. “I can’t say enough about our team staying together and it’s been a really good energy.”

In the first game played on Wednesday, Vintage took a 6-2 lead before Sonoma Academy capitalized on a few mistakes. Trailing 10-6, the Coyotes went on a quick 6-0 run to take a 12-10 lead. But just as Porter said, Vintage stayed the course, getting a timely serve from Natalee Yoder and crucial hits from Kate Gonzalez to finish the first game with a 15-4 run.

The Crushers maintained their momentum in the second game, taking a 9-0 lead and forcing Sonoma Academy to call a timeout. It was again the serve of captain Liv Weis, this time, who had three aces in the opening game.

The Coyotes (22-8) played better as the game progressed and even cut the lead to four at one point, but the early lead was too much to overcome and Vintage took a comfortable 2-0 lead in the match.

The situation was much the same in the third game; The Crushers jumped out to an early lead with the Coyotes playing from behind. On an 8-2 run, Vintage took a 20-12 lead at one point and the Crushers won five of the next nine points to win the game and the match.

“This wasn’t our night,” Sonoma Academy head coach Kaitlyn Dycus said. “There were some things that went against us and we needed everyone to be 100% ready and that didn’t happen for us. But overall I’m still really proud of the girls and how far they’ve come. This is the furthest any volleyball team has gone in Sonoma Academy history, normally Not to mention it’s in a higher league than the one we play in.”

The Crushers were led by Gonzalez, who finished with 13 kills and eight digs. Weis added 17 assists and five digs, while Melanie McPhee had three assists and 11 digs. Ariel Winkler had five aces along with four picks from the service line.

Sydney Shayewitz led the way for the Coyotes with eight kills and 12 digs. Bailey Anderson added six kills, while Caitlin Koida and Celeste Frick each had six assists. Maja Mieritz earned three blocks.

Both Vintage and Sonoma Academy will play on Saturday. The Coyotes will host No. 7 Encinal (17-16) in the third-place game to determine the final spot in NorCal (top three teams from each division advance), while Vintage hosts No. 6 Rancho Cotate (19-13). for the Division 4 championship.

Reach Staff Writer Kienan O’Doherty at 415-887-8650 or [email protected]. @kodoherty22 on X (Twitter).