Lindey Balsano has poise under pressure uncommon for a volleyball player her age.

That personality trait came in handy Thursday.

On three occasions late in the second set Plainfield North and its 5-foot-9 sophomore outside hitter faced potential Yorkville match points.

Even after surviving that, set point on a Yorkville rotation violation, the teams were momentarily called back on the court for a redo.

“Very, very stressful, definitely,” Balsano said. “Especially when they called us back on the court. Very scary.”

Balsano doesn’t frighten easily.

She had her team’s last two kills of the second set to turn away a Yorkville win. And then she took over in the third set, as Plainfield North rallied for an 18-25, 28-26, 25-15 win over visiting Yorkville in the Southwest Prairie Conference season finale.

Balsano had six kills in the deciding third set, including the last two points of the match, for Plainfield North (13-15, 5-5).

Plainfield North coach Matthew Slechta wasn’t surprised to see it.

He played Balsano six rotations as a freshman last year, something the program had never done before. Balsano is back playing all around this year as the Tigers returned basically everyone from a young team.

“She just has that calm demeanor about her all the time,” Slechta said. “You get those young hiccups here and there, but you saw in that second and third set, she just takes over. It’s hard to do it as a young player, but she does.”

Plainfield North never trailed in the third set, a couple Balsano kills getting the Tigers out to a 7-4 lead that eventually ballooned to 13-6.

“I just was aware of where the blockers were and I used that to my advantage,” Balsano said. “And I just trusted my teammates, especially my setter Hope [Hartmann]. She can always put me in the right place so I can always trust her.”

The second set ended in disputed fashion.

Balsano’s kill put Plainfield North ahead 27-26 after Yorkville had the three set and match points, and gave the Tigers back serve.

Yorkville was called for a rotation violation and after a long deliberation – and, for a moment, a possible redo – the call stood, sending the match to the third set.

“They gave me three different explanations so I actually don’t know the right answer,” Yorkville coach Ryan Donato said.

The call ended what was a second set that the Foxes nearly took with a furious comeback.

Plainfield North led 14-9, but Yorkville came all the way back to take a 21-20 lead on a Sophia Blank kill off a Tigers’ overpass.

Camryn Carter had six kills and two digs, Addisyn Gardner 17 assists and three aces and Natalie Zepeda eight digs and two aces for the Foxes (18-17, 7-4), who were the first to 24, 25 and 26 points after trailing in the second.

Nothing new to Donato.

“There have been few times this year where I looked at the scoreboard and said ‘This game is over,’” Donato said. “We have closed out a set trailing 9-21, we have been down 20-24 on multiple occasions and won all those sets. When they’re behind, you don’t feel like they’re behind.”

Slechta felt his group was a little off in the first set that Yorkville took control of midway through. The Tigers committed nine errors, four on missed serves, and were aced three times.

“The first set was pretty lethargic it just seemed on both sides,” Slechta said. “We missed those serves and that kills the momentum. The second set they came out much faster.”

The Tigers had it going in the third, Ava Manfredi and Gia Burton each accounting for three kills. Kayla Overbeek, who was hot early in the match, added one and Izzy Davis one.

“We were definitely really hyped after that second set,” Balsano said.

“We had good matchups the whole game so that’s why we were sticking with the same rotation,” Slechta said. “I think we struggled a little bit in the first set but in the timeout in between sets we said we liked the matchups, we just had to commit to the matchups we had.”

Plainfield North next opens regional play Tuesday versus regional host Lincoln-Way Central. Yorkville, meanwhile, faces regional host Oswego East on the same night.

“Our competitive drive that third set just wasn’t as prevalent as it’s been for the majority of the season. We just struggled building momentum,” Donato said. “That’s really just a one-off thing. Our kids tend to be more disciplined and determined. We said let’s flush it and move on.”