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Hannah Herrick has had many occasions this fall when she was not at peak health. This sure didn’t look like one of them. Herrick, Oswego’s junior outside hitter and a Dayton recruit, said she “felt good” Thursday. Her coach offered another description to his bench midway through the match. “I looked over to the sideline at my coaches and said she’s on autopilot right now,” Oswego coach Gary Mosley said. “It was just that smooth and she was in rhythm. They just couldn’t stop her.” Herrick was indeed unstoppable. She threw down 22 kills, including match point. Her sensational effort carried fifth-seeded Oswego to a 25-13, 25-15 win over fourth-seeded Neuqua Valley in the Class 4A Plainfield South Regional final. “I didn’t even know that I had that many, I just saw that,” Herrick said. “I was just feeling really good, it was a good game sticking to the scouting report. Postseason just gets you amped up.” Oswego (25-12), long a volleyball program with no tradition to speak of, is growing used to these kind of moments. The Panthers, who advanced to face Joliet West in Tuesday’s sectional semifinal in Joliet, won their third straight regional title. This one left Mosley overcome with emotion. Oswego graduated almost its entire lineup from last year’s team that reached its first sectional final. Herrick missed the season’s first seven matches with an ankle injury, and one match and a few days late in the year with a bone bruise. Sophomore Sara Gilio, Oswego’s second outside, just got back from a foot injury thought to be season-ending, and had five kills with set point in the first. Oswego was even without a gym, forced to play in its auxiliary gym this season with the main gym closed after flooding in August damaged the gym floor. Abigail Lundstrom had five kills, Maya Norlin two, Kimberly Reichard 29 assists, Avery Borowski 15 digs and Ammecy Ray 11 digs Thursday. “These kids, no matter what happens, they’re like a boxer that keeps getting punched in the face and they just keep coming forward,” Mosley said. “They’re unbelievable. They’re so coachable, so fun to be around.” Herrick was indeed unbelievable in the match’s defining moment. She had eight kills during Oswego’s 11-0 run that turned a 14-13 Neuqua lead into the Panthers’ commanding 24-14 advantage. “Getting into a groove with my setter Kimmy for sure helped and knowing what was open, my liberos talking to me the whole time, calling out shots, that helped,” Herrick said. “I just feel like going up, hitting it as hard as I can and having the idea that I’m going to get this point.” Herrick never doubted that she’d be back after her latest injury. Mosley will never doubt her. Herrick had three kills and Lundstrom two during a 7-0 run in the first set for a 21-10 lead. “She’s who you lean on,” Mosley said. “She’s our rock.” Neuqua (23-13), a young team with six sophomores, showed its youth in its first playoff match Tuesday, and again Thursday. The Wildcats committed nine errors in the first set they only led twice. But they played much cleaner in the second. Sophomore Tatum Kelly, twin sister of basketball star Cole Kelly, had three of Neuqua’s first four kills of the second set. Addison Frisby’s kill had Neuqua ahead 13-11. “We’re young,” Neuqua coach Jamie Buhnerkemper said. “It was still a little of they need to learn to do it themselves instead of waiting for someone to do it. We could stop [Herrick] only so many times.” Buhnerkemper was nonetheless thrilled with her team’s 16-win improvement from the 2024 season, and promise of the future. “Three returning sophomores who played as freshmen last year, both of my outsides were sophomores, my setter and right-side was a sophomore, my DS was a sophomore,” she said. “We didn’t have the best year last year. This year we had some seniors step up and lead and set the tone. They taught the younger kids what they needed to get done.” Mosley likewise is thrilled that his team is moving on to sectionals for a third straight year, what few outside of the Oswego locker room might have expected. “They’re so deserving of this,” Mosley said. “After that group left last year nobody thought we’d be here. I said don’t sleep on us, we got a group here. For them to persevere, losing our gym, blow after blow, we had two right-side hitters playing outside at one point, they’re so deserving. I’m just so proud of them.”
