Road Trip 2023 will take Ripon Christian to the Central Coast after the Knights knocked No. 4 Head-Royce out of the California Interscholastic Federation Division III Northern Regionals with a 25-20, 25-15, 23-25, 25-20 victory Tuesday in Oakland.

Seeded 13th, Ripon Christian (33-5) next travels to No. 5 Carmel (22-5) for the quarterfinals Thursday. Carmel is a Central Coast Section Division IV semifinalist that eked out a five-set win over No. 12 Placer (20-11).

Ripon Christian’s state opener was a rematch of the NorCal Division IV final from last season. The Knights, who were seeded ninth, won two road matches in San Francisco and another in Shasta County en route to capturing the second state title in program history.

The Knights also beat Head-Royce (31-4) in four sets last year and expected another tough go-around in this battle between section champions — Ripon Christian is coming off its Division IV title run in the Sac-Joaquin Section, while the Jayhawks reign in Division IV of the North Coast Section.

“Head-Royce was a great team with a lot of fire power from the pins,” RC coach Kayla Kootstra said. “They made us earn this win, and I am so proud of how hard the girls fought.”

Ripon Christian was led by its two senior outside hitters who each finished with double-doubles. Jordan Vander Veen compiled 17 kills and 15 digs, while Leah Van Wyngarden notched 12 kills and 26 digs to go with three aces and 17 service points.

Senior middle Sydney Hoffman was also key at the net, contributing 14 kills and three blocks. Setter Megan Weststeyn amassed 48 assists, eight digs, two kills and two blocks.

Allison Brown paced the back row with 31 digs, and Dayna Koolhaas chipped in with 11.

Archie Williams 3, Ripon 2

Fourteenth-seeded Ripon (30-7) made the trek to San Anselmo and proved to be no easy out for the No. 3 Peregrine Falcons (16-10) in the 19-25, 25-15, 20-25, 25-21, 9-15 defeat.

Archie Williams hosts No. 6 West Valley (41-6) of Cottonwood, which held off No. 11 Lodi in five games.