The La Salle-Peru volleyball team had plenty of motivation going into Wednesday’s match.

The Cavaliers were coming off back-to-back losses, they were playing rival Ottawa, they’re in the thick of the Interstate 8 Conference title race and they were celebrating their eight seniors.

With a lot to play for, L-P made a big run to pull away in the first set then dominated the second set for a 25-13, 25-10 victory in AJ Sellett Gym.

“I think we played very well coming off two conference losses,” L-P outside hitter Aubrey Duttlinger said. “We were kind of in the wrong headspace (during the two losses). I think today, being senior night, we just really wanted it. I think we were working really hard and we executed very well. We didn’t just beat them, we beat them by a lot.”

The Cavs were coming off two-set losses to Morris and Sycamore. After Wednesday’s win, L-P (24-3) is 6-2 in conference play, while Morris is 5-2 and Kaneland and Sycamore are each 4-3.

“It’s senior night and there’s a lot of emotion and excitement,” L-P coach Mark Haberkorn said. “I thought all that carried over into the match. I thought we played fast and sharp all night.

“Our last two matches were difficult. You can’t always play your best all the time and we played two very good teams. Tonight was a night that we needed to get our momentum going again.”

The Cavs will look to carry the momentum forward as they play this weekend in the Limestone Fall Classic, which Haberkorn called a mini-state tournament, before wrapping up the regular season next week on the road at Rochelle and Kaneland. The tournament features 2024 Class 3A state champion Mahomet-Seymour, runner-up Limestone and sectional champion Providence Catholic among other strong teams.

“It was a good win over Ottawa, so I think that’s going to give us some motivation going into the weekend because we have a really tough tournament,” Duttlinger said. “We know there are going to be a lot of hard games and we’re ready for that. We obviously want to win, but no matter the outcome, we just want to play hard.”

On Wednesday, the Pirates got off to a strong start, scoring the first two points, and the set remained close until the midway point.

“I thought we came in attacking really strong and our defense was not hesitant,” Ottawa coach Kristina Kore said. “They were ready to go. Those are some things we talked about. I think when L-P started picking up some things and they have some strong hitters on that team, we had a hard time adjusting to the tempo of the game.”

With L-P leading 13-11, Duttlinger slammed down a kill to spark a 12-2 closing run by the Cavs, which included an eight-point service run by Duttlinger.

“I think we just relaxed,” Haberkorn said. “We were so pumped up for the night that it just took us a while to settle down and just play volleyball. Then everything seemed to fall into place and we were very consistent after that.”

In the second set, Duttlinger pounded down four kills in an early six-point stretch and the Cavs led the rest of the way.

“I think first ball touch was a big thing,” Duttlinger said. “That’s something we’ve struggled with is serve-receive, and I think we did that really well. When you get a good pass, we have awesome setters and they’ll put the ball where you need it and all of our hitters were on tonight and we just put the ball down.”

Duttlinger, in particular, was on as she put down 13 kills. She also had 18 points and eight digs.

“We’re working really hard to get the sets where they need to be and I think our defense did a great job,” Duttlinger said. “If you give me the ball, I’m going to put it away.”

Also for L-P, Kelsey Frederick had six kills, five digs and two blocks, Anna Riva served 11 points and had three kills, Emma Jereb had 12 assists and five digs and Karmen Piano added eight digs.

Before the match, the Cavs presented a check for $8,735 for Cops 4 Cancer from their pink night and honored seniors Frederick, Riva, Jereb, Piano, Sophia Pyszka, Drew Depenbrock, McKenzie Krzyaniak and Brileigh Holland.

“Every practice is a great practice for us this year,” Haberkorn said. “They come ready to go every day. They have a lot of excitement. They’re going to be tough to replace, not only on the court but off the court.”