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The Del Norte Warriors gave their playoff hopes a boost with a strong showing at the Sonoma Valley volleyball tournament over the weekend.

The Big 5 leaders are hoping for more than just a league championship this season and have been eyeing a lengthy playoff run since the offseason.

To help prepare them for postseason competition, the Del Norte girls traveled to Sonoma where they faced some big schools on the way to placing second in their Silver Bracket.

“It was an excellent preparation for what postseason competition will look like,” head coach Meagan Curtis said.

The Division-4 Warriors finished 2-3 in tournament play while facing three Division-3 programs, as well as Division-1 Foothill.

They opened the tournament with back-to-back losses against Foothill and Acalanes, but responded nicely with two straight wins over a pair of D-3 programs, beating the host school and Analy, both in straight sets.

The Warriors then closed out the tournament with a 2-0 loss to Division-4 Justin-Siena.

The Braves improved to 15-5 with that win and are ranked No. 2 in Division 4, according to MaxPreps.

Del Norte is three spots back at No. 5 in the same bracket.

The Warriors, who are now 12-4 on the season, reached the second round of the North Coast Section playoffs last season, receiving the No. 6 seed and defeating Healdsburg before falling to Saint Mary’s in the quarterfinals.

With nine returning players on this year’s roster, one of the team’s goals is to go further in the NCS playoffs and qualify for the NorCal tournament. 

The Warriors are 2-0 in the Big 5 and return to league play on Tuesday night at Eureka.

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