What’s in a name?

Plenty for freshman Joelle Pye-Blacknard, giving her instant credibility when she joined Yorkville’s varsity for the summer league before even stepping into a high school classroom.

Older sister Janelle, a sophomore outside hitter/defensive specialist at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, paved the way with a stellar career for the Foxes.

Not that Joelle needed it.

A 5-foot-9 outside with a windmill-like swing that produces powerful kills, Pye-Blacknard has quickly established herself, according to senior setter/right-side Clare Knoll.

“Obviously, her sister was awesome,” Knoll said of Janelle, who’s a tad bit shorter at 5-7. “We kind of knew Joelle was going to be something special to our program.

“She fit in right away our first day with her vibe, her energy. She just goes with the flow. The jokes, the fun. She brings so much to our team. We’re lucky to have her.”

And with junior outside hitter Charlee Young still sidelined Thursday with a broken nose, Yorkville was glad to have the freshman phenom for a Southwest Prairie Conference match.

Joelle Pye-Blacknard picked up 10 kills, seven digs and an ace, helping to fuel the host Foxes to a come-from-behind 16-25, 25-17, 25-20 victory over West Aurora.

Yorkville (3-7, 1-1) also received nine assists, seven digs and four kills from Knoll. Courtney Clabough contributed four kills and Marie Reichman recorded nine digs.

“It is really special, especially since it was our home opener and the last home opener game for our seniors,” Pye-Blacknard said. “To win, especially in conference, was really good.”

Junior outside hitter Maureen Pokryfke paced the Blackhawks (8-5, 1-1) with a match-high 14 kills and two blocks but it wasn’t enough.

“You have to give credit to Yorkville,” West Aurora coach Brandon Vicory said. “They stepped up and we became one-dimensional. They spread their offense out from right to middle to outside and kept us off balance.

“It’s one of those things. We need to be able to hit across the net and be a little more consistent.”

Pye-Blacknard hammered back-to-back kills late in the second game, extending a three-point lead to 22-17. Kayla Dudek served an ace and the Foxes closed it out, scoring on a pair of mistakes that gave the Blackhawks 13 errors for the second game alone.

“After that first game, we talked about minimizing our hitting mistakes and trying different things other than hitting the ball as hard as we can,” first-year Yorkville coach Ryan Donato said. “We gave them the last seven points of the first game.”

Pye-Blacknard served up the final two points of the match, which were both scored on West Aurora miscues, with one attack going wide and another into the net.

“This is huge,” Donato said. “We have just five home games the entire season, so this is a big deal for us. Our conference changed our schedule order, and somehow, we lost three home games. Three different conference teams we’re playing away for the second year in a row. It’s not ideal for us.

“It’s not like we’re playing cupcake teams, either. We’ve played the No. 1 team in the state (Mother McAuley), Lemont, Plainfield North and Metea Valley. I think our strength of schedule is pretty up there.”

As for making varsity as a freshman, Pye-Blacknard said, “It was a goal.”

And putting away those hits?

“It just comes naturally,” she said. “Loving the game, I guess.”

Donato, for one, isn’t surprised, either.

“Have you seen her sister play?” he asked. “It’s copy and paste. Their hitting mechanics are very similar between the two. Joelle has the luck of being the younger sister.

“She’s had to mature a little bit but hopped right in. She’s in all the seniors’ shadows, but she’s fitting in with the kids, and it’s been great.”