Resilient Pine-Richland volleyball team marches into playoffs with confidence

By: Jerin Steele
Sunday, October 23, 2022 | 11:01 AM

The last time Pine-Richland played for a WPIAL girls volleyball championship, Angela Seman was on the other side playing defensive specialist/libero for Seneca Valley.

That was 11 years ago, and Seneca Valley ended up winning a thrilling five-set match, 3-2.

Now Seman is in her second season as the Rams head coach, and she’s hopeful she can lead them back to the WPIAL championship game.

Pine-Richland finished the regular season 13-2 with its only two losses coming against Section 1-3A rival North Allegheny.

North Allegheny and Pine-Richland have been first and second in the Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association rankings for nearly the entire season.

The WPIAL volleyball brackets were released Friday, which was past the deadline for this edition.

Aside from the North Allegheny matches, the Rams will enter the postseason battle-tested having won three five-set matches and three four-set matches.

“The five-set matches we have won, we’ve been down 0-2 and have come back,” Seman said. “In the 3-1 games we’ve played, we’ve dropped either the first or second set, so it’s really helped with our resiliency. That’s something we’ve grown on in the last year. We’re definitely a more resilient team, and we’re not going to back down from a battle.”

Pine-Richland beat Section 2-3A co-champ Canon-McMillan, Bethel Park and Mars in five sets. The Rams topped Section 3 champ Penn-Trafford in four sets as well as Section 1 rival Butler twice.

The Rams are led by senior and four-year starter at outside hitter Kaili Doctor, who is a North Carolina A&T recruit.

Plenty of players have been stepping up, however, which has helped the team become even more dangerous and well-rounded.

That includes another senior outside hitter, Katie Yanni.

“This is the best season Katie Yanni has had,” Seman said. “She’s been hitting above .300 almost every game. It’s her senior year, and she’s definitely playing her best. Our middles have also been playing well not only getting block touches, but also being available to attack in the middle. That’s definitely helped us.

“Isabelle Hoppe, who’s our setter/right side hitter when she’s in the front row, has been an impact player. Hoppe and Sofia Morse are the quarterbacks of the team. They are the ones giving the hitters the sets, and they’ve done a great job with that.”

Seman has been challenging her players in different ways throughout the season to prepare them for difficult moments. At the end of the season, they tested their mentality to be sharp once the postseason arrives.

“In our last four games against Butler, Seneca Valley, Avonworth and North Hills, we’ve been pushed a different way,” Seman said. “We’ve been pushed to stay at our level of play and not change it based on who we are playing. Once we get our playoff schedule, we’ll be able to home in on specific things that we need to work on and specific things to gear up for with who we are up against.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Pine-Richland