La Salle-Peru junior Aubrey Duttlinger said the Cavaliers “got a little flustered” toward the end of the first set of a Class 3A Galesburg Regional semifinal Tuesday.

The No. 2-seeded Cavs, who were upset in a regional semifinal last season, had set point leading by six, but Galesburg’s Taylor Adams put down a kill to give the Silver Streaks the ball back.

The Streaks’ Ella Herchenroder ripped a five-point service run - that included three aces - to tie it.

But with a service error by Herchenroder and a big block by Maggie Boudreau, the Cavs escaped the first set.

“I think we did a good job of just staying calm and keeping in our head that we only needed two more points,” Duttlinger said.

L-P then scored the first eight points of the second set and never let the Streaks back in it as the Cavs earned a 26-24, 25-10 victory.

“I think we played very well,” Duttlinger said. “Coach (Mark Haberkorn) is always saying the first game in the postseason is the hardest to win. The first set, we were all jumbled up. We were excited to play, but I think maybe we were a little too excited. The second set we calmed down and really showed who we were. I’m really proud of us for coming back in that second set.”

The Cavs (30-5) will play No. 6 Geneseo in the regional final at 6 p.m. Thursday. The Maple Leafs beat No. 3 Metamora 30-28, 17-25, 25-19.

“We played Geneseo and we beat them in the Limestone tournament in three sets,” Haberkorn said. “The last set was 15-13, so it was an even match all the way through. They’re a quality team. It’s going to be a great match.”

Against Galesburg, senior Emma Jereb, who Duttlinger said “never misses” at the service line, got the Cavs off to a strong start with an eight-point run that included an ace, two kills from Anna Riva and a kill from Kelsey Frederick.

“Emma Jereb started us off with eight points,” Haberkorn said. “She’s a great server for us. We got some good passing. The sets were very good. We finally got some blocking. We only had one (in the first set). We started playing more L-P volleyball and everything went smooth after that.”

Unlike the first set, the Streaks never got back into it.

Galesburg called timeout down 8-0, but the Cavs pushed it to double digits at 13-3 on a block by Duttlinger and never led by less than nine points the rest of the way.

“Winning that first set in regionals is huge,” Duttlinger said. “So winning that, I feel like it gave us a lot of confidence.

“We had that mentality that we already won the first set and now we just have to close it out. We just had to put the ball down. I think we did a very good job of that.”

Duttlinger led the way at the net as she pounded down 12 kills, while Riva had seven, Frederick had four and Boudreau added two kills and a pair of blocks.

“We expect that,” Haberkorn said about Duttlinger’s big night. “It’s nothing new. She got the ball tonight and she had a lot of big swings for us. That’s what she’s done all season.”

Jereb had 12 assists and Aubrey Urbanski added nine. Karmen Piano led the defense with 11 digs, while Urbanski had nine and Riva added four.

Jereb also served a team-high 13 points with Piano serving for 10, Riva eight and Urbanski six.