Playoff volleyball road Warriors

The Warriors are 16-11 for the season and finished 7-1 in the Big 5. The Pirates are 29-4 overall and took first in their conference.

This is the first time in several years that Del Norte has not received a first round NCS playoff game.

Normally, since De Norte won its conference, it would host a playoff game.  Because the Warriors are playing another school that is a conference champ, the higher seed hosts the contest.

 Del Norte is the 12th seed out of 13 teams and Sir  Francis Drake is the No. 5 seed.

Warrior co-coach Pablo Lorenzi said the number of teams were expanded this year and believes if there were less teams they would have had a home playoff game. There are 13 teams taking part in the Division III playoffs.

Lorenzi said there is not much more they can do but   continue to operate as they have done all season. That means take things one contest at a time, play the game to the best of their abilities and get ready to face the Pirates Wednesday night.

“I don’t think that it matters,” Lorenzi said when asked if he was disappointed the Warriors will not host a first round playoff game. “Either way you have to play.”

Lorenzi said he does not know too much about the Pirates but said they play tough competition in the Bay Area and are an experienced squad.

He added that if they are like the vast majority of Bay Area team’s all the girls who play are on club squads, which means they compete in the sport the majority of the year.

While De Norte will certainly be the underdog, Lorenzi said his team can’t have that attitude going in and need to play to the best of its abilities.

“Basically we just got to go out and play hard," he said. “It’s high school sports. Anything can happen. You may be totally on your game and the other team is totally off.”

Lorenzi said he was not too surprised the Warriors did not get a higher seed. Because  Del Norte County is so isolated, with the majority of the NCS teams in the Bay Area, countless times over the years local sports squad’s have gotten lower seeds than they expected.

A key reason, Lorenzi said, is the selection committee is more familiar with the team’s from the Bay Area. And unlike previous years, where the coaches went down to the Bay Area for the selection process and the chance to plead their case for a higher seed, things have changed. Instead, coaches plead their case in writing.

The past two years the Warriors hosted a home playoff game and lost.

In 2006 De Norte hosted a first round NCS playoff match and won, falling on the road in the Bay Area in the second round.

Two other Big 5 schools also earned NCS playoff berths.

McKinleyville earned  a No. 14 seed in Division IV  and Eureka received a No. 12 seed in Division II. Both teams have road games.