The Elgin and South Elgin girls volleyball teams were awfully similar Thursday night.

Both easily won the opening game of its Class 4A Larkin regional semifinal before having to rally for two-game victories.

Now the Upstate Eight Conference rivals will meet for the regional championship.

The Maroons defeated Larkin, 25-11, 27-25, after having to save four game points in the second game and the Storm topped Streamwood, 25-15, 25-19, after falling behind 11-3 in the second game.

"We came out with a little bit less intensity," Maroons coach Keith Foster said. "A 25-11 game showed how good we were as a team and, I think, even we took a step back and were a little surprised at it."

No. 1 seed Elgin (11-21) and No. 2 South Elgin (14-18) split a pair of matches earlier this season. The rubber match is at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Maroons will be going for their first regional title since 1988. The Storm has never played for a regional crown.

"Regionals are a way more emotional game than the regular season," Storm coach Joni Melahn said. "This is very exciting."

Elgin jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the opening game against the Royals (2-29). With the Maroons leading 10-6, sophomore Elyssa Helker served 3 aces during a 6-0 run as Elgin took control. An Alyssa Higdon kill ended the first game.

Larkin led most of Game 2, but never by more than 4 points. Stacie Beaver's kill, her sixth of the match, gave the Royals a 24-21 lead and game point, but the Maroons fought off four game points and scored 6 of the match's final 7 points.

"In a tight game, you've got to side out and that's going to win you games," Royals coach Gail Johnson said.

Higdon led the Maroons with 7 kills. Abbey Houde added 6 kills and 17 assists.

South Elgin d. Streamwood: In the second semifinal, South Elgin opened Game 1 with a 9-1 run, 7 points coming on Katelyn Stonecipher's serve. The Sabres (4-26) got back within 4, 16-12, after back-to-back kills by Faustyna Koszyk.

South Elgin regained the momentum and went on to win the opening game, 25-15, on a Amber Schnecke kill.

The Sabres jumped out to a 11-3 lead in Game 2, but the Storm went on a 6-0 run to get within 2, 11-9. A Melissa Oehlerking kill and an Storm hitting error gave the Sabres a 16-10 lead.

South Elgin then scored 15 of the next 18 points for the Game 2 victory. Alyssa Krause had a match-high 8 kills, including 3 in the final 7 points, for the Storm.

Oehlerking had 6 kills, 6 digs and 2 blocks for Streamwood. Brianna Bodajewicz had 4 blocks.

"We really had a good idea of what to expect from them," Sabres coach David Buehring said. "We had some trouble with execution."