A season ago, the Marcellus girls volleyball team got its first-ever taste of the big stage when it reached the state championships at Glens Falls Civic Center. And while the Mustangs were unable to reach the state title game, the run more than justified the program’s move from a winter to fall schedule. Now Marcellus is in pursuit of the big prize, but first there’s the small matter of the 2012 regular season and a string of quality opponents in the Onondaga High School League. That began with last Tuesday’s match against Fulton, where the second and third sets were close, but Marcellus still managed a 25-18, 25-22, 25-23 sweep of the Red Raiders. On a well-balanced front line, Allie Massara led with six kills. Hannah O’Brien and Devan Landers each had five kills, while Kelsey Burke got four kills. Jessica Cost recorded 15 assists and seven digs as, on the defensive side, Brittney Valentine earned 11 digs. Marcellus routed Institute of Technology Central 25-6, 25-10, 25-12 on Friday night as Grace Keegan served up seven aces. Suzanna Sylcox managed four kills and four digs, while Anna Smith and Kristin Field each gained four assists. Hannah Brady contributed five digs. West Genesee started another Class AA campaign last Thursday with a 25-8, 25-6, 25-7 rout of Henninger. Kayla Case set the tone with six aces as Jesse Allen managed six kills. Elle Swete and Kara Sweeney put up seven assists apiece. Allie Barry and Brianna Richardson each got three kills. Westhill, who went 2-4 in pool play of the Penfield Tournament on Sept. 1 (sweeping Greece Athena but losing to Webster Schroeder and Corning), had a solid opener on its home court against Fowler, taking just three sets to defeat the Falcons 25-13, 25-18, 25-16. Annaleigh Gedney picked up 19 assists, distributing the ball to a variety of front-line players. Abby Bornstein had a team-high six kills, while Katie McGraw and Delaney Martin each produced four kills. Bella Sterly added three kills and McGraw got four digs. In a closer match Thursday, Westhill won a five-set classic over Fulton. After winning the first set 25-21, the Warriors watched the Red Raiders claim the next two sets 25-18 and 26-24. Undeterred by the close third-set defeat, Westhill comfortably won the fourth set 25-16, which led to a final set where both sides had match points, but the Warriors, at 26-26, broke the tie and got the winning points to pull it out 28-26. McGraw stood out with 25 digs and seven kills, while Bornstein had eight kills and 17 digs and Rachel Zoanetti managed 13 digs. Gedney, feeding everyone, finished with 32 assists to go with five kills, with Bella Sterly stepping up as she got six kills. Solvay, for its first match of the season, had to go to Skaneateles, where the Lakers defeated the Bearcats 25-14, 25-6, 25-11. Leslie Santos-Gonzalez had 12 digs, with Jackie Gardner (eight digs), Kseniya Myalik and Kiersten DiBello (six digs each) also keeping points alive. DiBello also gained three aces, while Gardner had eight assists and Lindsay Burnett got three kills. Then, in Thursday’s match against Jamesville-DeWitt (who just switched to a fall schedule), the Bearcats came back twice to send the match to five sets, but still fell to the Red Rams 25-23, 20-25, 25-12, 18-25, 25-15. DiBello backed up her seven aces with 10 digs, while Gardner had seven kills and nine assists. Leslie Santos-Gonzalez recorded 17 digs and Brenna Poli had 12 digs plus four kills. Lauren Bandera managed six kills, five assists and seven digs. Bishop Ludden lost its opener to Phoenix 25-13, 25-11, 25-8, despite seven assists from Jill Kompf and the trio of Hailey Bevard, Amanda Sanefski and Allison Barletta each picking up three kills. Barletta also managed seven digs, helped by Abby Johnson, who had four digs. Then the Gaelic Knights fell to Mexico 25-14, 25-15, 25-17 two nights later. Kompf had seven assists and three kills, with Johnson and Cassie Griglock managing three kills apiece.