For the three area high school girls volleyball teams starting their work in the Section III playoffs last Friday night, it proved a clean sweep of victories – but none of them were easily attained.

Solvay had the toughest test as the no. 4 seed Bearcats hosted no. 5 seed Skaneateles and survived a five-set battle with the Lakers to earn a shot at top seed Westhill in this Wednesday’s sectional Class B semifinals.

The other semifinal will pit no. 3 seed Marcellus against no. 2 seed Cazenovia following the Mustangs’ four-set win over Homer, while in Class AA West Genesee also needed four sets to get past its sectional opener and beat Cicero-North Syracuse.

Solvay meeting Skaneateles almost guaranteed a good match. Five of the previous six encounters had gone five sets, including three consecutive sectional clashes and a Sept. 14 meeting that the Lakers claimed at home.

Here, Solvay led the opening set 19-16 but could not hold on as Skaneateles claimed it 25-23. Undaunted by this, the Bearcats scored the first six points of the second set and never trailed in a 25-19 decision.

The third set nearly matched the second, Solvay roaring out to a 9-1 lead and prevailing 25-18, only to have the Lakers put up its own 6-0 run to open the fourth set on the way to pulling back even in another 25-19 decision.

A final set would decide the game and the season for the Bearcats, and it steadily built a 16-8 advantage, never getting caught on the way to winning the match by a 25-18 margin.

Brielle Bagozzi led Solvay with 17 kills and 24 digs. Anna Rolince had 10 kills and three blocks, while Phebe Guadagnolo claimed eight kills and 11 digs.

Allie Posnick combined her 34 assists with four aces, five kills and si x digs Also helping out, Bella Petralito had six aces, adding seven kills and 12 digs, with Ashley Bosco getting four kills and two blocks.

For Marcellus, the battle against Homer could not have started better with a 25-10 opening-set romp that carried over into a 25-20 win in the second set. The Trojans did win the third set 25-18, but a 25-19 decision in the fourth set helped the Mustangs advance.

Olivia Quick finished with 27 assists, adding five kills and three blocks. Sydney French mixed in 12 kills and 11 digs as Julia Piorkowski got six kills, 10 digs and four aces.

Meghan O’Brien had eight kills and Grace Hoey got five kills as MichaelaGodbold, with 13 digs, and Rachel Randall, with 12 digs, paced the Marcellus defense.

Even with top seed and defending champion Baldwinsville looming in the Class AA semifinals, West Genesee, the no. 4 seed, embraced the possibility of facing the Bees, as it showed against no. 5 seed C-NS, a team it lost to in four sets two weeks earlier.

Here, the Wildcats made it through a 25-21 opening set and rolled to a 25-18 win in the second set. Then it got tough, the Northstars pulling out the third set 25-23 and pushing the fourth set beyond the wire before WG pulled it out, 27-25.

Carolyn King picked up 20 kills, adding six digs. Anna Snyder finished with 26 assists, adding eight digs as Audrey Dennis earned 13 digs and Arlea Vecchio finished with six digs. Greta Jasinski matched King’s total of six digs.

As WG meets B’ville in its sectional semifinal, Bishop Ludden, as the no. 3 seed in Class D, must beat Living Word Academy in order to get a final against Bishop Grimes this Saturday at Fayetteville-Manlius.