BRIDGEVILLE — Every time it seemed Pine-Richland had its back against the wall, the Rams would push back.

In Thursday's WPIALClass AAA volleyball semifinals against top-seeded Seneca Valley, the Rams were crushed in the first game and trailed 3-0 in the fifth game before coming away with a 12-25, 25-14, 18-25, 25-17, 16-14 victory at Chartiers Valley High.

With the win, the Rams advance to Saturday's WPIALChampionship match between the North Allegheny-Mount Lebanon winner.

"Seneca Valley's teams always come out fired up," said Rams coach Emily Gerega. "I told the kids regardless of what happens, (the second game) is a new game. Let the first (game) go."

The Raiders (12-3) trailed the Rams 5-4 in the first game before reeling off 10 straight points, including nine on service points by Dana Hughes, en route to the easy win.

"I think our team played a little on the easy side after that," said Seneca Valley coach Karen Martini. "Before when we played them, they had a lot more off-speed stuff."

In the second game, the reverse occurred as the Rams (11-4) rolled past the Raiders.

With the score tied at 13-all, which was the 10th tie of the game, Pine-Richland took the next nine points, including eight by Melissa Morgan, to knot the match at 1-all.

The Raiders appeared to take the upper hand by grabbing the third game. An 8-2 run by Seneca Valley with the score tied at 11 opened a 19-13 lead. The Raiders never trailed by fewer than three points the rest of the game

Not to be outdone, the Rams responded again. With the score tied at 4, Pine-Richland took advantage of a few Raiders mistakes to open up a lead.

A lift, a net violation, a center line violation and a double hit allowed the Rams to take a 10-5 lead. Seneca Valley scored the next two points to cut the deficit to three points, but could get no closer.

"I told my team 'You're playing for your season,'" said Gerega. "'Just play it one point at a time.' Luckily, it turned out well."

The Rams scored the next five points, thanks to a pair of Julia McCabe kills, but a Meghan Franz tip kill and a shot out by the Rams allowed the Raiders to tie the game at 5.

The game was tied three more times, but SV's Jill Galloway's serve was out. Then on the next, the Raiders couldn't set up a return shot and the Rams took the win.

"We're on top of the world right now," said Gerega. (Friday) we'll step back down and re-focus. It's back to square one."

Seneca Valley received a game-high 21 kills from Franz, 11 from Galloway and nine from Hughes.

Carolyn Steger led the Rams with 18 kills, followed by McCabe (11) and Caitlyn Scioscia (nine). Maria Nicholas added 37 assists for the Rams.