Oakland High entered the CIF NorCal Division IV tournament as the No. 5 seed in the bracket, a slot reserved for a team expected to make it to the second round, perhaps, but probably no further.

No one told that to the Wildcats.

After traveling to San Francisco and beating fourth-seeded Balboa in Tuesday’s opening round, Oakland visited top-seeded Aspire Benjamin Holt College Preparatory Academy in Stockton in Thursday’s regional semifinals.

It was not an empty trip, as Oakland prevailed 25-23, 25-23, 25-20 to advance to the NorCal final, where it faced No. 2 Livingston on Friday evening. The winner advances to the Division IV state championship match on May 31 against Southern California’s regional champion.

“I’m super proud of my guys for making it this far, the farthest in our school history,” Oakland coach Kao Saephanh told the Bay Area News Group. “We knew going into the match that they wouldn’t make it easy, but we also knew what we were capable of.”

Oakland (25-7) went 10-0 in Oakland Athletic League regular-season play and in knocking off Ben Holt (39-2), the Wildcats handed the Bobcats their first home loss this year.

Offensively, outside hitter Raul Henriquez led the way for Oakland with 14 kills and five digs. Opposite/ right side Nathan Le had eight kills, and middle blocker Moses Heida had six kills and six more blocks.

Libero Vincent Huynh helped coordinate the Cats’ defense with six digs, and setter Darren Nguyen dished out an even 30 assists.

Livingston beat No. 3 Oakland Tech 22-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-22 in Thursday’s other Division IV semifinal.

DIVISION I

No. 1 Archbishop Mitty 3, No. 4 Clovis 0: Mitty beat Clovis 25-19, 25-17, 25-23 to advance to the regional final.

The Monarchs (39-2) have not dropped a set so far in NorCal play, and they’re trending in the right direction. Mitty needed extra points to settle the first set and won by the minimum in the other two in a 26-24, 25-23, 25-23 sweep of No. 8 Oak Ridge on Tuesday in San Jose.

Mitty will host No. 3 Clovis East in the NorCal final today at 6 p.m. Clovis East defeated No. 2 Harker in five sets in the other regional semifinal.

DIVISION II

No. 1 Buchanan 3, No. 4 Los Gatos 0: Los Gatos had an unpleasant end to a great season on Thursday in Clovis, with the host Bears earning a 25-13, 25-17, 25-19 victory to advance.

Los Gatos (20-12) had 22 kills as a team. Senior Markus McGrath had seven kills, followed by junior Sean Slover with four. Nico Bianchi and Nolan Harr added three each.

Reily Nguyen had a kill and the lone service ace for Los Gatos. Bianchi had three blocks, while Harr and Slover shared second place with two each. McGrath had one.

Slover had five digs, Harr had four, and Owen Benitez, Will Enneking, Weston Kafer, and Nguyen each had two.

No. 3 Del Oro-Loomis 3, No. 2 Amador Valley 1: It will be a Bay Area-free Division II championship game after Del Oro beat the host Dons 25-21, 25-16, 14-25, 25-22.

Amador Valley coach Ross Yu said Del Oro’s tough serving and potent hitting were the difference in the first two sets.

The Dons won the third set thanks to contributions from hitters Max Riter and Nick Nayak, as well as improved defensive execution.

“We carried that momentum and energy into the fourth set, which was back and forth,” Yu said. “We came close to pushing it to a fifth set, but they pulled out the last few points.”

The Dons finish the year with a record of 27-12.

“I am absolutely proud of how these boys came together and committed themselves to each other,” Yu said. “It is their closeness and their shared resolve as a team that enabled them to steadily improve over the course of the season.

“We would have loved the win, but we went out playing the Amador Valley brand of volleyball, knowing we gave it our all.”