Vintage High School advanced to a North Coast Section title game when the top-seeded Crushers beat No. 5 Sonoma Academy at home to advance to Saturday’s Division 4 final. 25-16, 25-17 and 25-16.

It is the first time Vintage (15-16) has reached a section title game since 2014, when they reached the Division 2 title 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 had a rollercoaster of emotions coming into this season. We’ve also had a couple of girls get injured, but we’ve stayed the course. “I can’t say enough about the permanence of our team and there have been great vibes.”

In Wednesday’s first game, Vintage took a 6-2 lead before Sonoma Academy took advantage of some mistakes. The Coyotes, who trailed 10-6, went on a quick 6-0 run to take a 12-10 lead. But just as Porter said, Vintage stayed the course, getting timely serve from Natalee Yoder and decisive kills from Kate Gonzalez to finish the first game on a 15-4 run.

The Crushers kept the momentum going as they took a 9-0 lead in the second game, forcing Sonoma Academy to call a timeout. Again, it was serving, this time from captain Liv Weis, who scored three aces in the first run.

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

It was much the same in the third game, with the Crushers taking an early lead that caused the Coyotes to play from behind. An 8-2 run saw Vintage lead 20-12 at one point, and the Crushers won five of the next nine points to take the game and the match.

“It just wasn’t our night,” Sonoma Academy head coach Kaitlyn Dycus said. “We had some things going against us and we needed everyone to be at 100% and that just didn’t happen for us. But overall, I’m still very proud of the girls and how far they’ve come. “This is the furthest any volleyball team has gone in Sonoma Academy history, not to mention in a higher division than we normally play.”

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

For the Coyotes, Sydney Shayewitz led the way with eight kills and 12 digs. Bailey Anderson added six kills, while Caitlin Koida and Celeste Frick each had six assists. Maja Mieritz got 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 NorCal berth (top three teams in each division advance), while Vintage will host No. 6 Rancho Cotate (19 -13) for the Division 4 title.

Staff writer Kienan O’Doherty can be reached at 415-887-8650 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @kodoherty22.