Turlock heads to Atherton in Division I volleyball semifinal

The 2016 volleyball season continues for just four Stanislaus District teams on Tuesday night at various locales around Northern California.

Fifth-seeded Turlock will travel to Atherton to take on No. 1 Menlo-Atherton in a Division I semifinal.

Meanwhile, in the Division III semis, Turlock’s Central California Conference mate, No. 6 Buhach Colony, will head to Lafayette for a date with No. 2 Acalanes, while No. 4 Sonora faces No. 1 Miramonte in Orinda in the other D-III semi.

In the D-VI NorCal final, it’s a rematch of the Sac-Joaquin Section championship between No. 3 Stone Ridge Christian and No. 1 Woodland Christian.

The host Cardinals defeated the Knights 25-16, 25-14, 25-13 on Nov. 12 in Lodi to claim their second consecutive blue banner – both coming over SRC.

With victories, Buhach Colony and Sonora could make it an all-Stanislaus District affair to decide the D-III NorCal championship.

The teams just missed on an all-district Sac-Joaquin Section final, as Christian Brothers beat BC 3-0 in the semifinal round. The No. 1 Falcons would go on to beat Sonora 3-0 in the section finale.

None of the four district teams still competing won section championships.

Only Pitman and Ripon captured blue championship pennants. But the Pride was bounced by St. Ignatius in the first round of the Open Division playoffs, while Ripon was eliminated in the second round of the D-IV playoffs by Branson.

Turlock faces a Menlo-Atherton club that is coming off a convincing 25-10, 25-22, 25-13 win over Tracy in the NorCal quarterfinals. Turlock defeated Tracy 25-19, 26-24, 20-25, 25-17 when they met in the Nov. 8 section semifinals.

Since suffering a 3-0 loss to Pitman in the section title match, the Bulldogs have stormed through the NorCal tourney with 3-0 wins over No. 12 Palo Alto and No. 4 Redwood (Larkspur).

This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Turlock heads to Atherton in Division I volleyball semifinal."