Bella Culotta was a spectator for most of Sycamore’s match Wednesday against DeKalb.

But with her team down six in the third set, she became the star of a third-act twist.

Culotta ended up with four kills and sparked the Spartans to a 25-18, 21-25, 26-24 victory over the Barbs.

“It feels very, very cinematic. Very cool,” Culotta said. “It’s definitely a great feeling to be put in last-second. We came up clutch at the end, and I think our team really stood out today.”

The Barbs (0-2) led 17-11 in the third set, and the block in the middle led by Camryn Hilliard and Jordan Grant was slowing down Sycamore attackers Khiara Thomas and Sophia Lichthardt.

Sycamore coach Jennifer Charles turned to Culotta for a late spark. The junior played sparingly at the varsity level last year and hadn’t entered the match against the Barbs, the season opener for Sycamore (1-0).

“I was definitely very nervous, but showing up and getting four kills or something like that will probably be a highlight of my season,” Culotta said. “I’ll definitely remember it for sure.”

The Spartans tied things up at 18, but the Barbs bounced back up 19-18 on a kill by Grant, her fifth and final kill of the match. Melia Robinson added an ace to push the lead to two.

A kill from Culotta kept the lead from getting any bigger, and the Spartans took the lead at 22-21 on a kill from Laney Block. The Barbs tied things back up at 24, but Thomas got her ninth kill for the Spartans, who closed it out on the next point.

Charles said she told her team before the match it was going to come down to which team kept its composure, and she liked how the team responded in the third set.

“I would have loved for it to have been in two, but it was a great match, both sides,” Charles said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with my girls. They kept their composure, which is the biggest thing I told them.”

Charles said Culotta’s performance turned the match around, giving the Spartans another attacker. Lichthardt finished with five kills, and Thomas had nine.

Block finished with two kills and three blocks for the Spartans, while Sydney Fabrizius had 15 digs.

For DeKalb, Maddi Hollar had 14 assists, four blocks, two kills and six digs. Molly Fell had 21 digs, and Issy Smith had six aces.

DeKalb coach Keith Foster said he thought his team played tough against the Spartans. They led early in the first set before Sycamore went up 17-10 on a block by Block and Madilyn Patton.

DeKalb led most of the second set, though went down 17-16. They scored the next two, one on a kill by Grant, and never trailed again.

“I’m proud of the kids and what they’ve done,” said Foster, now in his second year as the Barbs’ head coach. “They’re working within our culture right now, and we’ll continue to improve it.”

On paper, the match seemed similar to last year when Sycamore won 16-25, 26-24, 25-16. But the Barbs were a point away from closing out the second set, leading 24-18 before allowing eight straight points.

Foster said the performance on Wednesday showed a marked improvement from last year.

“We had a strong lead in the second set last year and couldn’t finish that out, then we didn’t play well in the third set,” Foster said. “There wasn’t a moment today that I thought where we had extended periods of play that was not good volleyball.”