Petaluma girls play in regionals tonight

<p>The Petaluma girls’ volleyball team will take the next step on its journey into uncharted territory at 7 tonight when the fourth-seeded Trojans play host to Rocklin in the first round of the eight-team NorCal Regionals.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>The regional champion will meet the Southern California champion on Dec. 5 at UC Irvine in the state-title game.</p><p>Petaluma (26-8), which won its first section title with a five-game win over Redwood on Saturday, is playing tonight for a chance to meet prep volleyball royalty.</p><p>The winner of tonight’s match will almost certainly visit top-seeded Archbishop Mitty of San Jose on Saturday in the NorCal semifinals.</p><p>Archbishop Mitty (36-0) is ranked No. 1 in the Nation by ESPN Rise, has won 78 of its last 79 matches and returns nine players from last year’s team, which won the program’s fourth state title this decade.</p><p>The Monarchs have players who have signed scholarships with Stanford, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, USF, Miami, Indiana State, UC Irvine and Rutgers.</p><p>“To be able to get a chance to play the No. 1 team in the nation would be a huge competitive challenge,” said Petaluma coach Ben Stern. “To be able to go out and compete against that type of team would be great. I’ve told my players, the matches I remember most from playing in high school and club were the matches against the very best.”</p><p>Of course, Stern is mindful that the Trojans face a significant hurdle in unseeded Rocklin (32-8), the Sac-Joaquin Section runner-ups for the second time in the past three years. Stern said the Thunder have several tall middle blockers and are a strong serving team.</p><p>Petaluma will counter with a roster featuring seven seniors, headlined by outside hitters Kaitlyn Dunaway, Maddison Eshoo and setter Hayley Ross.</p><p>“We can still play better than we have,” Stern said. “I think we all can agree on that.”</p>