After two weeks and nine matches on the road, the La Salle-Peru volleyball team returned to AJ Sellett Gymnasium on Wednesday.

“It was good,” L-P junior outside hitter Aubrey Duttlinger said. “We were away for a while. I feel like tonight, we played so well because of the intensity of being home and having all our fans and family here. It was really good, because we have lots of support.”

In the comforts of home, the Cavaliers played strong from start to finish in a 25-11, 25-12 victory over Streator in a nonconference match in La Salle.

“We got off to a quick start with some strong serving by Emma Jereb,” L-P coach Mark Haberkorn said. “She did a nice job getting the team rolling with her serves, and she kind of put Streator back on their heels. From there, we just continued to build the momentum through set one.

“In set two, Streator played a lot better. It was 8-8, and then we went on a little run and were able to get the momentum and finish strong again.”

Jereb served back-to-back aces on the first two points, and Anna Riva put down a kill to spark the Cavaliers to a 6-0 lead, which caused Streator coach Julie Gabehart to call a timeout.

The break did little to slow down the Cavs as they pushed their lead out to 11-2. The Bulldogs rallied within five at 12-7 but got no closer.

L-P’s lead reached double digits at 21-11 on a Streator error, which was part of a string of five straight miscues that made it 24-11.

Duttlinger killed a freeball to end the opening set.

“We got ahead, and I think we did a good job of keeping our composure, just putting the ball down and making really strong, good plays,” Duttlinger said. “We had some room there to make some aggressive plays, and I think we used that to our advantage.”

In the second set, Streator took its only lead of the night at 2-1 on a kill by Aubrey Jacobs. The set was tied four times after that.

“We definitely didn’t serve well,” Gabehart said. “That’s one of our strengths this year, and we really struggled with that. With a team like L-P, you have to get them out of system and make them work, and we didn’t do that.

“We dug ourselves a pretty big hole in the first set, and we had a tough time recovering. The girls did a good job adjusting. They run a different defensive scheme than most teams we play, we talked about that, and I do think we improved on hitting to the open spots after that.”

A kill off the block by Kelsey Frederick gave L-P the lead for good at 9-8. She followed that with a slide before Duttlinger ripped a kill from the back row for an 11-8 lead.

The Cavs extended the lead to 22-11 before closing it out with a kill by Alexus Hines, an ace by Aubrey Urbanski and a kill by Duttlinger.

Duttlinger led L-P with eight kills, while Frederick had five and Riva added three. Duttlinger and Maggie Boudreau recorded three blocks each. Jereb finished with 11 assists and served 12 points and three aces, while Frederick had 13 points.

“We blocked really well,” Haberkorn said. “Our blocking has really been impressive the last few matches, and that’s something that really helps our defense. We’re a good serving team, and we showed it again tonight. We moved the ball around, and when we get the opportunity, our hitters hit to the open spots

“It was a night where we were very consistent in all phases of the match.”

The Cavs (17-1) extended their winning streak to 15 matches. L-P wraps up a stretch of 19 matches in 24 days Thursday.

“I think it’s just showing up every game,” Duttlinger said about the streak. “That’s something we’re pretty good at. (Tuesday) we were in a middle school gym, and there was no air conditioning, and we showed up. We won in two sets. We’ve had to play those hard games.

“We just show up every time.”

Kinslee Sweeden led the Bulldogs (9-4) with three kills and six digs, while Jacobs had five assists.