Tehya Knapp and Yorkville have made it a theme all season that they’re never out of a match.

Why would the playoffs be any different?

The Foxes, after dropping the second set of Tuesday’s regional match to host Oswego East, proceeded to spot their opponent the first six points of the third.

“I think we really just had to focus on letting go of the second set and I think we did a good job of refreshing and resetting,” said Knapp, a junior outside hitter. “We started off a little slow but then we got the hang of it and pulled through.”

Knapp played a pivotal role.

She put down kills for the Foxes’ first two points of the third set, and two more to set up match point. Yorkville went on to a 25-21, 16-25, 25-22 win in the Class 4A Oswego East Regional semifinal.

Yorkville’s third win over Oswego East this season followed a familiar script.

The Foxes (19-16) dug out of a 21-9 hole in their first meeting, and were chasing points throughout the second set of a two-set win at Oswego East (14-17) in the regular season’s final week.

“We’re in a good spot that volleyball is not played to one point because we may not win very many matches like that,” Yorkville coach Ryan Donato said. “These kids work really hard and they have the mentality that they are never out.

“This is Yorkville volleyball. We have our hiccups but we usually stay composed, stay competitive and find ways to score points.”

Two kills and a block by Oswego East’s Kayli Pembroke and two Mia Stanley aces had the Wolves out to a 6-0 lead in the third set.

Knapp steadied the ship with back-to-back kills, and the Foxes eventually tied it 8-8 on a kill by Sophia Blank.

“I was just trying to put the ball down,” Knapp said. “I feel like our team has a really good bond. The chemistry we have allows us to pick up our energy and come back.”

The teams proceeded to play to eight ties in the third set until an Oswego East passing error pushed Yorkville ahead 20-19. Consecutive Knapp kills got the Foxes to 24-22, good for her and her team.

“We’ve had to work on her hitting because she’s been in a slump,” Donato said. “I thought she did a great job of not trying to over swing, not go for that huge point. She realized in that third set the goal was to keep balls in play and make it happen.”

Knapp has been making it happen all season since transferring to Yorkville across town from a Class 1A school, Parkview Christian.

She’s fit in with a talented collection of junior hitters, including pins Audrey Knoll and Camryn Carter and Blank in the middle.

“She is a kid with a very bubbly and outgoing personality; I never worried about her making friends here,” Donato said. “We have a lot of kids who are bubbly and outgoing. I love spending time with them every single day.”

Oswego East, for its part, made the most of its last day of competition.

After dropping the first set, the Wolves came alive in the second. Sophomore Victoria Vlcek had four of the team’s first five points. Junior middle Giavonna Sylvestre took it from there with two kills and a block to spark a 4-0 run out of a 7-7 tie.

“That was the one thing that we said we had to establish to stay in was our middles. And that’s exactly what they did,” Wolves coach Dina Beamon said. “I said give them the ball, they gave them the ball. And she [Sylvestre] was great.”

Beamon saw a different team than the one that lost to Yorkville in two sets on senior night the week before. The Wolves played nearly the last two months of the season without their best player, Austin Peay commit Ali Coy, because of a knee injury.

“Our word of the day was fight, that was my only expectation and that’s exactly what they did,” Beamon said. “I couldn’t be more proud. They showed who they were, especially those seven seniors.”

Yorkville advances to a Thursday regional final against Joliet West. The Foxes, contrary to their previous meetings with Oswego East, dropped both regular-season matches to the Tigers.

“Our theme this week is it’s hard to beat a team three times,” Donato said. “We talk about that. It’s not going to be easy no matter what.”