Girls volleyball: Healthy again, Lipscomb recruit Pye-Blacknard helps Naperville North clinch DVC championship

The defense never rests when Naperville North senior outside hitter Joelle Pye-Blacknard is on the court.

One day, she hopes to make sure it never rests when she is in court.

Pye-Blacknard, a Lipscomb recruit, plans to major in criminal justice, then attend law school and become a criminal defense attorney.

“All the criminal justice TV shows got me interested in law,” Pye-Blacknard said. “I learned more about criminal justice defense and how so many people are wrongly convicted of crimes.

“That can ruin your life, your family’s life and everyone around you. There’s a stat where if your parent is in prison, there’s a greater chance of you going to prison yourself. So I want to (work on) keeping people out of prison when they do not deserve to be in prison.”

Pye-Blacknard’s career choice is a noble pursuit, one in keeping with her reputation of putting others first. That’s what she did as a junior, when she played in pain after suffering a sprained MCL in her knee just prior to the season.

“I just braced it up and pushed through,” Pye-Blacknard said. “It was definitely tough, but I wanted to play for my teammates, my best friends, the seniors last year.

“I was thinking about more than myself in thinking about them playing their last year.”

That unselfishness impressed teammates like senior outside hitter Emma Chang, who was a varsity rookie at the time.

“I was really excited to start playing with her,” Chang said. “I wanted to know what it was like to play next to somebody that plays like her. She’s such a standout character of a person and she has such a hard work ethic.”

Chang never doubted Pye-Blacknard would come back stronger than ever.

“I knew that she was going to bounce back,” Chang said. “It was not a surprise to me.”

Pye-Blacknard avoided surgery and did bounce back. She has a team-leading 235 kills, is second on the team with 189 digs and has added 29 aces and 15 blocks.

“She came in with such a great attitude,” Naperville North coach Nate Bornancin said. “I think being healthy coming into the season physically and mentally is always great for any player, but she battled injuries last year and I think she never really felt like herself.

“She puts so much pressure on herself to perform. She has really high expectations for herself, which you expect out of a Division I outside hitter.”

Pye-Blacknard has realized those expectations.

“She has performed so well this year,” Bornancin said. “Just her passing and her defense alone make her one of the best defensive outsides in the state, and then you throw in her attack.”

It has added up to a terrific season for Pye-Blacknard and the Huskies, who captured the DuPage Valley Conference championship by beating visiting Neuqua Valley 25-19, 25-18 on Tuesday.

That senior night performance was a persuasive closing argument for Pye-Blacknard and Naperville North’s nine other seniors. In their final home game, Pye-Blacknard had three kills, three digs and five service points, while Chang led all players with six kills to go with five digs.

Senior setter Grace Anderson added 15 assists and her twin sister, Kristen, had five kills for the Huskies (23-11, 8-1). Junior Alexandra Durkin had four kills to pace Neuqua Valley (16-17, 5-5), which played without Illinois-bound junior setter Tatum Kelly due to illness.

“Ever since I’ve been on varsity, we haven’t won DVC, so definitely winning DVC in our last home game on senior night was amazing,” Pye-Blacknard said. “Fans and friends and family coming out and supporting us, cheering us on.

“There’s so many seniors on our team this year, so playing with each other, all sharing this moment together was great.”

It was great for Bornancin to see Pye-Blacknard having fun.

“I’m just so proud of the way she’s made it through the last three seasons,” Bornancin said. “She’s a co-captain, that leader, that presence on the court.

“She’s had a bunch of matches this year where she’s just taken over and it’s just so wonderful to see a senior do that. Obviously, leading a group of 10 seniors on senior night to clinch conference is amazing for our girls.”

An amazing final season is a fitting coda to Pye-Blacknard’s prep career.

“She’s so deserving of it,” Chang said. “I’m just really proud of her and happy to see her go on and play D-I volleyball and continue her athletic and academic career.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.