Five teams from Sonoma and Napa counties will represent the region in the Northern California prep volleyball playoff tournament that begins Tuesday. Most matches start at 18:00

Part II

Cardinal Newman, No. 11, on Tuesday, at San Joaquin Monument No. 6: The Cardinals qualified for the NorCals by placing third in the North Coast Division 2 category. Newman (28-8) finished third in the North Bay League Oak with a 7-3 record.

Newman will travel to Fresno to play with the San Joaquin Memorial team that finished second in the Central Chapter Division 2 standings and won the CMAC/NYL league championship. Their overall record is 26-14.

Part IV

No.9 Vintage, No.8 Soquel, Tuesday: NCS Division 4 champion Vintage (16-16) finished third in the Vine Valley Athletic League with a 7-5 record. The Crushers will travel to the foothills of Santa Cruz for their first NorCal matchup.

Soquel (17-15), meanwhile, finished second in the Santa Cruz Coast League with a 9-3 record and also finished second in the Central Coast Section’s Division 3 bracket.

The winner of that will go to top-seeded Liberty Ranch (34-5) in the next round.

No. 14 Rancho Cotate, No. 3 Fresno Christian, Tuesday: The Cougars (19-14) finished as the NCS Division 4 runner-up and won the NBL-Redwood championship with a 9-1 mark. It will be a long drive to Fresno to kick off the NorCal campaign.

“This is a great opportunity for us to move forward and hopefully start another playoff run,” Rancho Cotate head coach Jeffrey Bradshaw said. “It will be a long journey, but we are excited to move forward.”

Rancho rival Fresno Christian (37-13) won the Northwest Sequoia league championship with a perfect 9-0 record. They then turned it into a division championship and won the Central Chapter Division 4 championship.

Chapter VI

Number 3 St. Vincent and No. 6 Redding Christian: The Mustangs (23-7) finished second in the NCS Division 6 tournament after finishing second in the NBL-Redwood with an 8-2 mark.

St. “We are pleased with our No. 3 seed and excited to host a NorCal game,” St. Vincent head coach Bryn Letsch said. “We have a strong, resilient team that can bounce back and come together, and we know that when we apply and limit unforced errors, we have the tools to be successful.”

Redding Christian (17-16-1) comes to Petaluma as the Five Star League champion with a 7-1 record. The Lions then caused quite a stir by placing 7th in the Northern Regional Division 6 group, finishing as runners-up after beating two of the top three seeds in the group.

No.7 Grace Christian Academy, No.2 Vacaville Christian, Wednesday: The Lions (12-4) finished second in North Central League III with an 11-3 record before falling to the NCS Division 6 quarterfinals.

They will travel to Vacaville, where the Falcons (23-5) won the Sierra Delta League by a 3-1 mark and captured the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 6 championship.

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