The Pine-Richland boys' volleyball team is hoping a second consecutive WPIAL playoff berth will prompt the school district to change its status from club to varsity sport.

"This is only the fifth year for the program," said Pine-Richland coach John Rogerson, now in his second season with the Rams. "We're still considered a club sport. The school district helps with some of our expenses, but our booster club has to raise three-quarters of our budget. That means that each player or their parents must raise or pay $225 [per season] to play."

With that in mind, parents from the Rams booster club have been attending school board meetings with hopes of having the district adopt boys' volleyball as a varsity sport.

"We're hoping to get a favorable decision at the next school board meeting," Rogerson said. "Our most important concern right now, however, is to finish the regular season on a good note and get ready for the playoffs."

Pine-Richland concludes its Section 2-AA schedule tonight at Deer Lakes. The Lancers lead the section with an 11-0 record, while the Rams are second at 9-2. Seton-LaSalle is only a game back at 8-3.

"We lost to Deer Lakes and Seton-LaSalle in the first half of section play, and both matches went to five games," Rogerson said. "We came back and beat Seton-LaSalle in four games in the second half."

Pine-Richland can clinch second place with a win against Deer Lakes. The Rams would most likely finish in a tie for second place with Seton-LaSalle if they lose to the Lancers.

"We shared the section title with Deer Lakes last year after splitting with them," Rogerson said. "They gave us our only section loss in the last match. Hopefully, we can return the favor [tonight]."

Rogerson uses a 10-player rotation, which includes six seniors: 6-foot-6 middle hitter Jim Chrystal, 6-5 middle hitter Phil Rader, 5-11 setter Nathan Blandino, 6-0 outside hitter John DeLacio, 6-3 outside hitter Andrew Pohlod and 5-5 back-row specialist Matt Weiss.

"It really helps having an experienced setter running our offense," said Rogerson, referring to Blandino. "Nathan can also hit, but his primary duty is to feed our other hitters."

Five of the six seniors are returning starters; Weiss is the only newcomer.

"We have seven kids who are capable of being our top hitter in a match," Rogerson said. "Andrew has been our most consistent hitter."

Zach Simmonds and Adam Kazemchak, a pair of 6-2 juniors, have been splitting time at right-side hitter.

Also seeing playing time are 5-5 sophomore libero Brian Jones and 5-7 sophomore back-row specialist John Thompson.

"Brian was out for eight months after a back injury [he incurred] while playing soccer," Rogerson said. "He was away from the sport for a long time, but has returned as sharp as ever."

Rogerson, a 2003 graduate of Butler Area High School, came to Pine-Richland after three years as a varsity assistant at Seneca Valley.

"I've been holding separate practices with my varsity and junior varsity due to the different levels of experience," Rogerson said. "I'm tied up with practice sometimes as long as four hours. It's a lot of work, but it's clearly paying off."

Pine-Richland posted a victory in its first WPIAL playoff appearance.

"We opened with Moon and beat them, 3-0," Rogerson said. "We then faced the eventual champion, Montour, and lost, 3-0. Six of our kids were on that team, so they know what to expect in the playoffs."

Pine-Richland was in two regular-season tournaments, and lost to the eventual champion in the semifinals of both. The Rams lost to Hopewell in the semifinals of the North Hills tournament, and to Bethel Park in the semifinals at Seneca Valley.

"Our hope is to be seeded among the first five or six teams," Rogerson said. "We're looking forward to the opportunity of participating in the playoffs again."

Pine-Richland should enjoy its trip to the playoffs, because it will get much harder to qualify next year. The Rams are scheduled to move up to Class AAA.