Yorkville junior Camryn Carter is fearless.

With the Foxes clinging to a 17-16 lead in the third set of Tuesday’s Southwest Prairie Conference match at Oswego, Carter finished off the Panthers with a block, a couple of kills and the final two service points in a 25-14, 22-25, 25-21 win.

“So it’s really easy to be more competitive and be more calm when the rest of your team has energy with you, because even if you miss it like they have your back and won’t be upset,” Carter said. “They just will be happy at you for trying. That’s a big motivator. Then you’re not scared to fail so you’ll put your all in.”

Carter had 10 kills, Tehya Knapp led the Foxes with 11 kills and Audrey Knoll had nine kills.

The match was played in Oswego’s auxiliary gym. With the lower class games finishing beforehand, the teams had plenty of vocal support behind their respective benches with those kids turning into cheerleaders.

It was loud, which was perfectly fine for Oswego junior Sophia Blank (three blocks, four kills) whose block finished off the Panthers in the final set.

“It was a very high energy set and we were everywhere,” Blank said, “I feel the loudness helped. It encouraged us to be better and put more energy into our hits, blocks and digs and stuff. The loudness really helped.”

Yorkville (6-9- 1-1) has watched the Panthers celebrate first-handwith post-season wins the past two years because the Foxes were on the other bench. That made the victory extra sweet for Yorkville senior Addisyn Gardner (3 aces, 17 assists, six digs, seven kills).

“Last year we came so close to beating them so it was devastating,” she said. “Throughout the day we had the right mindset and we were all striving for the win and this was all we wanted. We were all seeing the game through, how to make shots, how to make points.”

Oswego (8-6, 1-1) surrendered the first three points in the opening set and never led until junior Hannah Herrick’s kill in the second set gave the Panthers a 2-1 advantage. Herrick led the Panthers with 13 kills.

“I think definitely the first set we came out really flat, unprepared for sure,” Herrick said. “And after the second set, knowing that we did that and holding ourselves accountable was super important. We did well to come back in the second set and fixing our controllable errors was really important and to keep swinging and doing what was working.”

They kept fighting.

“We fought really hard in the end,” Panthers junior Amelia Mosley said. “We stayed together as a team no matter what.”

One of Oswego sophomore Sara Gilio’s 11 kills was the final blow in the Panthers 25-22 victory in the second set.

“Losing the second set is tough, especially on the road,” Foxes coach Ryan Donato said. “We were really trying this week to make practice more difficult so when they get to close games like this we want them to feel the sense that this is easier. So we’re really emphasizing hard work and there have been times we’ve stopped drills completely and gone right into disciplinary measures because we’re trying to prepare them for tight games against teams that stay disciplined so when we get to games like this we’re not as nervous as we should be.”

After trailing 7-6 in the final set, the Foxes finally took a two-point lead at 15-13 as the teams exchanged points up until that moment.

“Ryan (Donato) always has that team well prepared,” Panthers coach Gary Mosley said. “They came out like game busters and we came out and it took us a while to get our feet under us and find our rhythm. It was like a heavyweight fight for a little bit there, back and forth, back and forth, those are fun, man.”

There certainly have been some fun ones in recent memory between the schools.

“The energy in here is crazy,” Gary Mosley said. “We try to embrace the new with his gym and that’s the new part with that energy. It’s fun for the kids. It’s fun for everybody, man. You want to come out on the other side, obviously, but Yorkville, that’s a good team.”