New gym worth wait for Pine-Richland athletes

By: Jerin Steele
Sunday, October 29, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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Pine-Richland girls volleyball coach Angela Seman kept hearing that it would be worth the wait as her team waited for their opportunity to play in its newly renovated gym.

As construction was wrapping up, the Rams were vagabonds of sorts, playing a road-heavy schedule and select home matches in an auxiliary gym.

When they finally got the go-ahead to play in the gym, she said she realized all the things she had been told were true.

The Rams officially played their first match in their new home Oct. 17 and had a grand opening celebration two days later Oct. 19 for their match against North Allegheny.

“This is a great gym for volleyball,” Seman said. “The way it is set up with the crowd completely surrounding the court gives us the opportunity to have an interactive game with the crowd and be able to feel their energy. We’re definitely thrilled to finally be in here. It’s good knowing in the coming years that we have a great facility to train in and a gym that is made for us to be successful in our sport. We appreciate that the school district put so much time and effort into this.”

Along with seating on all four sides, the new gym design rotated the entire facility 90 degrees. There’s a new large video board on the wall on the right side and freshly painted Ram logos on green and white walls around the facility.

The gym will house the boys and girls basketball teams and the boys and girls volleyball teams.

Pine-Richland superintendent Brian Miller addressed the crowd prior to a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“This was a vision that started in 2016,” Miller said. “We did an athletics facilities study, and over the last seven or eight years, we’ve done dozens of projects around the district. Redesigning this space was really a challenge for us. Our goal was to get 1,520 seats so we could put our entire student body here.”

School board members, facilities managers, athletic director Joe Gironda and representatives from Eckles Construction Services in Zelienople, which led the construction project, were among a large group on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The four seniors from the Rams girls volleyball team — Sofia Morse, Sydney Servagno, Macey Hayes and Kaylee Oglan — cut the ribbon.

“It’s a real honor to be able to open the gym and be the first ones to play on this court and make this our new home,” Morse said. “We’ll really appreciative for everyone that did everything they could to get us in the gym as soon as they could.”

Along with the opening ceremony, Pine-Richland hosted its Spike Out Cancer night. The Rams hold the event annually when they host North Allegheny.

There was a silent auction where patrons could purchase tickets for an opportunity to win baskets provided by local businesses. All funds raised went to the American Cancer Society.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Pine-Richland