PITTSBURGH — Angela Seman used family to create a firm foundation.

Now she’s flying pretty smoothly on her own.

The Seneca Valley graduate and University of Pittsburgh red-shirt freshman is supplying the Panther volleyball team with a stellar defensive presence in the back row.

“We graduated an all-conference libero back there in Delaney Glesen and had no idea who was going to take her place,” third-year Pitt coach Dan Fisher said.

“Angela just stepped up and grabbed it.”

And she’s not letting go.

Pitt is 17-5 overall, 7-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Seman is sixth in the ACC in digs, averaging 4.43 per set. She had a season-high 33 digs in Pitt’s five-set loss at Duke Friday night.

Seman leads the Panthers with 369 digs so far this season — 157 more than any teammate — and had six games of 20 or more digs.

That’s a lot of court-scraping.

“Yeah, I get a little beat up,” Seman said. “But it’s so much fun back there. It’s my favorite position on the court.

“I have free reign to go after any ball near me. I get to serve and set ... I do a little bit of everything.”

That beats the previous season, when Seman did not play in matches at all. But her time was far from wasted.

Seman went from being a two-time all-state player in high school, playing a prominent role on a WPIAL championship team, to simply honing her game during practices in college.

“It was challenging, at first,” Seman said. “I mean, I was so used to playing all the time. But looking back, that year of learning was what I needed.

“I got my reps in practice. I was into practice. I adjusted.”

Seman committed to Pitt in March of her junior year. Her uncle played baseball for the Panthers. Both of her parents attended Pitt.

“It was always my dream to go there, because of them,” she said.

Her older sister and former Seneca Valley teammate, Cate Seman, is now a senior putting the finishing touches on a solid volleyball career at the University of Rhode Island.

Cate Seman was a three-year volleyball captain at Seneca Valley. Angela was a two-year captain for the Raiders.

“She’s been my sounding board almost my whole life,” Angela said of her sister. “I’ve always looked up to her.

“She taught me how to act on the court, how to be a team player, a captain, a leader. When I was a freshman last year, Cate showed me how to adjust to that.”

Seman keeps in regular contact with her sister. When Pitt played at Boston College earlier this month, Seman’s parents brought Cate up from Rhode Island following the Rams’ home match against Duquesne the night before.

“I got to see her during the season. That was pretty cool,” Seman said.

Fisher said his new libero’s transition to the college game hasn’t been too bad, either.

“Angela was red-shirted here because she wasn’t ready to play at this level,” the coach said. “She learned so fast. A libero has to be able to pass the ball to play that position effectively and passing is one of the hardest elements of Division I volleyball to pick up on.

“Angela worked so hard at it. She knew the position was vacated and she made it all hers last spring.”

Pitt is bidding for a berth in the 64-team NCAA tournament this year. The Panthers barely missed out last year.

“Our team goal is to make the NCAA tournament an annual thing here,” Seman said. “All I want to do is my part in making that happen.”

She’s well on her way.

“Down the road, she can be an all-conference player ... She can be one of the best liberos in the nation,” Fisher said. “She has the passion to get there.”