HOLYOKE - If this was supposed to be a rebuilding year, Sean MacDonald will take many more of them.

The Frontier Regional volleyball coach, faced with trying to rebuild a squad that graduated nine seniors, put his faith in a starting rotation that included three sophomores and a freshman.

The result, so far, has been 21 straight victories, a growing confidence with each passing game and a police and fire escort through the middle of South Deerfield early Saturday evening.

The Red Hawks won their fifth consecutive sectional crown by sweeping previously unbeaten Lee 25-23, 25-17, 25-17, in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament championship Saturday in front of a raucous, bipartisan crowd in the David M. Bartley Center at Holyoke Community College.

"It feels amazing. This was so unexpected, so it feels that much better," said junior libero Kendra Ouimette, Frontier's quiet leader and defensive catalyst who finished the match with 12 digs.

When asked if still being unbeaten surprised her, Ouimette replied, "Sometimes, yeah. I think back to the beginning of the year, when everybody was talking about how we lost nine seniors. I'm so proud of all the girls, and how they have stepped up."

The top-seeded Red Hawks (21-0) advanced to play South sectional champion Joseph Case High School of Swansea (20-4) in the state semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Ashland High School. Case swept Sacred Heart of Kingston 25-11, 25-13, 25-14 in the South final.

MacDonald said he is impressed by his program's accomplishments over the last half-decade.

"It's tough to wrap my brain around," he said, referring to Frontier's streak of five straight sectional titles. "We figured if things went right (this year) we may get here, (but) winning it is an entirely different story."

The Red Hawks had visions of an easy first game after Holly DeWitt (five service points) and Cassidy Stankowski (three kills) helped build a 5-0 lead. The lead never got closer than three, and it grew to as large as 18-9 before a side out put the No. 2 Wildcats (20-1) back on the line. Eight serves later, Frontier was clinging to a one-point lead.

Frontier reached game point at 24-20 before Julia Warner (11 kills) ripped a kill down the line to get the serve back for Lee. Ashley Raftery served for the next two points, but shanked her third attempt to give the Red Hawks the game.

With Frontier trailing 12-11 in the second game, Angelica Perfido (six kills, three aces) went on a seven-point run, which included an ace and four put aways by Stankowski, to give the Red Hawks the lead for good at 18-12 .

After some back-and-forth play, Stankowski (20 kills, 11 digs, six aces) served for three points, and Kelsey Abramson (four kills, one block) ended the game with a kill.

Perfido started the third game with consecutive aces, Amanda Dacyczyn (five kills, two digs, one ace) added four in a row and Stankowski ripped off a pair of aces during her stretch of three points to help Frontier build a 12-5 lead.

Warner's play at the net helped the Wildcats stick around for a while, but they never got closer than five the rest of the way. Every time Lee seemed to seize the momentum, the Red Hawks took it away with a well-timed hit, tip or dig that resulted in a point - capped by Perfido's kill down the line after a fantastic volley that lasted nearly a full minute and featured two remarkable saves by each side to keep the play alive.

The match ended on another marathon volley with even more spectacular defense until fatigued Lee hitter Sam Daoust put the ball into the net.

"Lee gave us a great game," said Stankowski, "After the first game we started to buckle down and we knew what was on the line. We really wanted it.

"Everybody stepped up, and it was really nice to have people come off the bench cold," she added. "Angelica came in and did a great job."

MacDonald, whose teams are a combined 113-5 in this five-year championship run, said, "I can not stress enough how proud I am of this team, the job that they've done and how hard they've worked. ...

"It's a really special year we're having," MacDonald added. "We're going to go after Case on Wednesday, but to me right now, anything after (Saturday) is really thick gravy. But we'll go after them and take our shot."