Led by great plays, Yorkville volleyball fights back to topple Lincoln-Way Central

YORKVILLE – Yorkville senior Charlee Young’s understanding of the amount of ground she needed to cover was crystal clear Tuesday night.

She used that knowledge to execute one of the many great plays the Foxes had in their playbook to rally past Lincoln-Way Central 18-25, 25-18, 25-15 in a Class 4A Yorkville Regional semifinal.

Yorkville (17-18) will meet Oswego (30-4) in Thursday’s championship match. The Panthers cruised past Neuqua Valley in the early semifinal, 25-8, 25-20.

Young eased back on her kill, eyeing a wide-open spot to deposit it, giving the Foxes an 8-1 lead in the decisive third set. The Panthers wouldn’t get any closer than those seven points.

“For me, playing middle back, I know the struggles of having to move sideline to sideline,” she said. “So I use that and try to send it deep to hopefully make their setter take it and get out of system or their middle back having to work really hard to get that ball.”

Senior Lily Casbarian inspired the Foxes with kill shots to put the Panthers away in the final set. She had one to make it 13-4 as they continued pulling away. Another that made it 22-12 got the Foxes closer to the finish line.

“We have so many players, so we’re very versatile, and I love that,” Young said. “We don’t have one very strong player. We can set it to anybody and I feel safe, so I really enjoy that. It also helps with our team chemistry. We have trust in each other knowing each other can get this ball down.”

Senior Samantha Whitt delivered the final punch. Finishes like hers – and the plays that led up to it – have proven elusive for the Foxes, but they got one and advanced. Now they’re a big underdog, Thursday but thrilled for their next opportunity.

“Our team has struggled this year with finishing out, so it was really nice that this was the game we ended up finishing out on,” Whitt said. “I feel like we really put it all out on the court. I’m really excited for Thursday, and we hopefully take another win.”

The Foxes fell victim to a late run in the first set. They were tied 16-16.

“We came out after the first set really disappointed and really thought we needed to come out and win,” Whitt said. “We’ve worked so hard this whole season. We had a lot of pregame hype, so I feel like we really wanted it and brought it out in the second set. And in the third set we knew we wanted to win and finally just put it down.

“I’m really happy with the outcome.”

Lincoln-Way Central (17-19) stunned the Foxes with 10 straight points. The Knights went from trailing 16-12 to leading 22-16, finishing the run thanks to a dual block point from senior Haley Podkul and senior Moran Kozlowski followed by a hitting error.

“I didn’t know how we were going to play,” Knights coach Mary Brown said. “I was proud of the way they played. They didn’t back down. We don’t have a lot of seniors who start.”

Mistakes complicated matters when the night started to get away from the Knights. Brown called a timeout after Yorkville junior Rylei Warren’s ace put them behind 11-6. They wouldn’t get closer.

“I feel like we played pretty aggressive, but started to give them points and shouldn’t have, and things seemed to be going their way,” she said. “The only way to beat a good team is to play aggressive, and we started backing down and were afraid of making mistakes.”

Elimination games decided in a third set aren’t for the faint-hearted.

“I mean, it sucks, because they don’t want it to be their last game, and we didn’t want it to be ours,” Young said. “So we went out there and left everything.”

The Foxes were swept 25-15, 25-18 when they played the Panthers on Sept. 25.