SOUTH DEERFIELD - Off to the final again.

Frontier Regional girls volleyball team seized control of the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament quarterfinal match early and used 27 aces to roll to a 25-16, 25-15, 25-14 victory over Monument Mountain Thursday night at Goodnow Gymnasium.

The top-seeded Red Hawks (20-0) advance to the championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday final at the Bartley Center at Holyoke Community College where they will face No. 2 Lee (20-0), a 25-15, 26-24, 25-13 winner over No. 3 Ware in Thursday's other semifinal.

Frontier, the four-time defending champion, will make its eighth appearance in the sectional final this decade (sixth in a row) and 14th overall.

The upstart No. 4 Spartans (17-5) did not appear to be intimidated early, taking a 3-2 lead in the first set before Emily Wheeler of the Red Hawks took the service line and freshman sensation Cassidy Stankowski began warming up on the front row.

Wheeler reeled off six straight points, three of them finished by Stankowski kills, to build a 9-3 advantage.

Stankowski added two points later, including an ace on a jump serve, to extend the Frontier lead to 12-4.

However, Monument clawed its way back with two kills by Kelly Pearson, a five-point service run from Emily Boyer and three unforced Frontier errors to close the gap to 16-15 before Stankowski ripped a winner into the open floor.

Amanda Dacyczyn served for the next three points, then, after an exchange of serves, Wheeler (12 assists, six aces) served out the set with four more points, three of which ended with Spartan errors.

The second set was another tight affair early until Wheeler served for three straight aces to give Frontier a 7-3 lead.

Monument was able to close the gap, but at 8-5 Stankowski took over on the line and reeled off seven points, including three aces, to make it 15-5 before the Spartans stopped the run. The closest they could get was 20-15, but a side-out on serve gave the ball back to Frontier at 21-15, and Dacyczyn ripped off the final four points, one of them an ace, to put the hosts up 2-0.

If the first two sets did not give the casual fan any indication how good Frontier was, the third did.

The Red Hawks led 7-3 when Stankowski (14 aces, 17 kills, four digs) stepped to the service line and proceeded to rip off seven aces in an eight-serve sequence to extend the lead to 15-3 in a matter of a few minutes, leaving the Spartans more than a little befuddled at her nearly untouchable topspin bullets.

"It's just kind of a neat situation where you can have a freshman go back and reel off nine or 10 service points," said Frontier coach Sean MacDonald. "She had nine attempts, seven aces and one error in that stretch. ... There isn't a volleyball coach on the planet who wouldn't take that."

What impressed MacDonald even more was the point his team won after Pearson was able to dig Stankowski's serve at 11-3. When Frontier was setting up Holly DeWitt for a kill, the set was off the mark, but DeWitt was able to readjust in midair and tip the ball beyond the Spartan blocker and just over the net, where it dropped in.

"I thought that was the play of the day for her," said MacDonald of the junior outside hitter. "She kept the ball in play and put in a perfect spot. ... She's struggled at time with inconsistency, but she's been big for us. She's come a long way, and she's going to be crucial to our success from here on out.

"Those are the things that we're trying to instill in them," MacDonald added. "It's not so much the kill, but the error that can kill you if we make some stupid play while Cassidy is having the service run of her life."

Frontier built its lead to as much as 20-4 before MacDonald emptied the bench and Monument made a brief rally to close the gap to 23-14. Megan Sullivan went to the line and served for the last two Frontier points, closing out the match with an ace.

Kelsey Abramson added three blocks for the Red Hawks.

"We're starting two sophomore setters, a sophomore middle hitter, and Amanda changed positions," said MacDonald. "I'm just proud of the job the young kids have done, and the returning varsity players, the support they're giving them when they make mistakes, because you know you're going to make them, we all just have to fight through it and learn from it."