ROSS TWP — If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

The Seneca Valley girls volleyball team failed to defeat Section 3-AAA foe Pine-Richland in its first two attempts this season.

But the third meeting, a WPIAL quarterfinal playoff at North Hills High School Tuesday night, went the Raiders' way in a 3-2 decision.

SV advanced to the district semifinals with a 15-25, 28-26, 23-25, 25-22, 16-14 victory over the Rams.

The Raiders will face Moon, a 3-2 winner over Baldwin, Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

Seneca Valley found itself down two games to one Tuesday before rallying to win the final two games.

"Our theme tonight was we had nothing to lose," said SV coach Karen Martini, who watched her team drop its two regular season matches to the Rams by a combined score of 6-1. "It was all about discipline and desire, as we tell the girls."

SV's defense played an incredible fifth game, forcing a sideout before the Rams could manage a point in 10 of their 12 service games.

With P-R up 14-13, the Raiders received a game-saving kill from Jen Boyd, which tied the game and gave possession to the Raiders.

With Emily Hannon behind the service line, the Raiders got a block from Justine Carrow to go up 15-14 before Meghan Franz's kill ended Pine-Richland's season.

"We knew we could beat Seneca Valley because we did it earlier this season," said Rams coach Emily Gerega. "But we noticed a lot of improvement in their play from the first time to the second time we played them.

"We knew (SV) would be aggressive tonight," she added. "It's tough to beat a team three times in one season."

Franz led the Raiders (11-7) with 15 kills, Boyd had 12 kills, Carrow tallied 11 kills and four blocks, and setter Lauren Balmert managed 50 assists.

"Our two middle hitters, Carrow and Boyd, played very well tonight," said Martini. "When one of them wasn't coming up with a big kill, the other one was."

"Their middle hitters made some big plays that we just couldn't defend," said Gerega.

But the Raiders' success was also due to a change Martini made in the lineup, inserting sophomore right-side hitter Sarah Beals.

Beals ended the night with five kills, but her presence on the court meant much more than that.

"She had a match like I've never seen before," said Martini.

Trailing 2-1 entering the fourth game, the Raiders had their backs against the wall.

And they responded by taking the lead from the Rams in the 10th service game and never giving it up.

With SV holding a 23-20 lead, Beals' kill made it 24-20 and gave the ball back to the Raiders.

After a sideout gave Pine-Richland another chance, the Rams were called for a net violation, giving SV a three-point win to force the fifth and final game.

"I just told the girls before that fourth game that we had to start over," said Martini. "They needed to remain calm and stay focused on what we needed to do."

The second game was crucial to the Raiders' chances.

With a 17-10 lead, the Rams were eight points from taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.

But the Raiders came up with seven combined points in consecutive service games, due in large part to the play of Boyd and Franz.

SV finally took the lead on Balmert's serve and held on to tie the match at one game apiece.

Kendall Ashworth led the Rams with 15 kills and Carolyn Steger chipped in with 10 kills.