By Scott Goodrich

SOQUEL >> Soquel High’s girls volleyball team has been almost unbeatable at home this year, losing just once on Randy Peck Court.

That home court advantage, along with the stellar play of senior Claire Petersen and her teammates, came in mighty handy as the No. 8 seed Knights knocked off No. 9 Vintage of Napa 25-21, 25-19, 13-25, 25-18 to open the CIF NorCal Regional Division IV playoffs on Thursday evening.

By winning its final home match of the season, Soquel (18-15 overall) advances to the second round. It plays at No. 1 Liberty Ranch (34-5) in Galt on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Soquel coach Jake Lee was happy and satisfied with the win. He knew the Crushers wouldn’t be a walkover.

“We knew they were a really good team, a really middle dominant team,” Lee said. “Our middles really stepped up and slowed them down.”

Speaking of offense, the Knights displayed an array of strong kills as they took a 2-0 lead in sets, although the Crushers did not make things easy. Vintage junior middle blocker Grace Geitner was a constant thorn in the Knights’ side, with her powerful kills and strong blocks.

Vintage came alive in the third set. Tied at 12-all, the Crushers scored 13 of 14 points to pull off a 25-13 win.

The Vintage players fired up their supporters and their fans fired right back with enthusiastic cheers, hoping to carry momentum into the fourth set.

Peterson, the Knights’ captain, gathered her teammates and offered some inspirational words.

“I said that it’s all about how we respond to this,” she said. ” ‘The other team’s going to get points, they’re going to do things. We need to get a simple pass and put the ball away,’ and I think we did a really good job with that.”

Soquel took Petersen’s words to heart, and jumped out to a 6-1 lead.

The Crushers battled back to get to within one point, 17-16. But thanks to another kill by Petersen, two service aces by Henderson, and a game-ending smash by Petersen, the Knights closed out the match.

Petersen led Soquel with 11 kills. Winterburn, Eze and Liv Barton each had seven kills. Henderson had six aces and four blocks, and Lily Juarez-Sapone recorded 21 assists. Gemma Reyes had a team-high 20 digs.

Vintage head coach Kelly Porter wished that her team had heated up earlier in the match.

“Honestly, for us to make it this far, we’ve had a lot of adversity, with injuries and things and tonight, we didn’t quite have the mojo that we carry into most of our matches,” she said. “I think if we had flipped the switch a little bit sooner, it would have been a much different outcome.”

For the Knights, the switch was on all night. Henderson, playing in her final home game noted her satisfaction with the big win.

“I think we all played really well as a team,” she said. “We stayed really consistent throughout. It was a really fun match.

Reminded it’s the last time she’ll play in the Knights’ home gym, she responded, “It’s bittersweet, it’s been a really fun season.”

Buchanan 3, Harbor 0

CLOVIS >> The No. 14 Pirates were swept 25-19, 25-11, 25-19 by the No. 3 Bears in the first round of the CIF NorCal Regional D-II playoffs on Tuesday.

Sophomore Avery Dedekian had five of the Bears’ 11 aces.

Freshman Peyton Truong had 12 kills for the Bears (27-12), the fourth-place finisher in the Tri-River Athletic League. Senior Kalli Sanchez had seven kills, and senior Sarah Her and freshman Karis Nelson each had six kills.

The Pirates, the repeat Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion and Central Coast Section D-IV runner-up, ends its season at 23-11.