Hannah Herrick’s year on the volleyball court was a difficult one.

Expected to be Oswego’s go-to hitter for the first time, she rolled her ankle on a recruiting visit to Syracuse at the end of July. She missed a month and her team’s first eight matches.

Herrick, a junior outside hitter, had to acclimate to a new setter and basically an entire new group of teammates. A bone bruise kept her out briefly late in the season.

All those volleyball trials, though, pale in comparison to everyday life.

Herrick’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018. It came back in 2022, and in January 2025 came back in her brain.

It helps to have a release with all that weighing on her. For Herrick, that’s volleyball.

“Volleyball has always been a great way to get my mind off stuff,” Herrick said. “I would go to the gym for practice, and it would be my time to forget about stuff going on and focus on volleyball.”

Once back on the court this fall, Herrick was simply brilliant.

She carried an Oswego team with modest expectations. Herrick had 22 kills in the regional final, leading the Panthers to their third straight regional title, and 20 more in the sectional semifinal.

“That term, ‘she carried this team,’ doesn’t even do justice to what Hannah did,” Oswego coach Gary Mosley said. “She came back and made an immediate impact. Her tenacity to want to get better, it’s something different. She has that animal inside her that, when it’s time, it’s time.”

Herrick finished the season with 341 kills, third-most in program history. The Dayton commit also had 256 digs, seventh-most in Oswego history, and 41 aces. She was named second team all-state in Class 4A by the Illinois Volleyball Coaches Association.

And she is the Record Newspapers Player of the Year.

Oswego entered this season off the best two-year run in program history. But with five of the top six girls graduated, Herrick, Mosley and the Panthers recognized that this would be a different year.

“The biggest thing for me was the progression we made this year,” Herrick said. “It was kind of rough with a whole new team, but we moved past that and accepted that. I learned so much from the girls last year and carried that with me.”

Mosley said Herrick gave her 110% and demanded what she gave from her teammates. Her on-court expectations, leadership and demeanor was needed for the girls trying to find their rhythm.

“Me and Mosley talked a lot about holding everybody accountable. Everybody has a different role, and it contributes to one big team,” Herrick said. “I tried to push everybody harder, to go harder for every single ball, me as well, showing the example.”

Mosley said Herrick had every reason to be a diva on this team. He sees some kids with Herrick’s talent level exhibit an arrogant attitude.

Not Herrick.

“She is the antithesis of that,” Mosley said. “She wants her teammates to get all the accolades.”

Herrick did gymnastics and cheer growing up, but realized by middle school she was too tall for those sports. She started volleyball at a small club in sixth grade.

By the time she was 14, Herrick had aspirations to play in college and switched to the Sports Performance club.

Sophomore year at Oswego, with two future Division I outside hitters ahead of Herrick in Sidney Hamaker and Mia Jurkovic, Mosley said he needed her to play middle.

She bought in.

“There was still that dog in her that wanted to be on the pin, but she was so accepting of that role,” Mosley said. “If I asked her to be a libero, she’d give it a try. Pretty blessed to have kids like that with high character. Hannah is just different.”

She has the perspective of a young lady who has been through a lot.

Her mom missed a couple months of Herrick’s club matches after brain surgery in February, but still watched online. She was able to make all her high school matches.

“Obviously there are moments that are super hard,” Herrick said. “The biggest thing I have taken away is you really don’t know what others are going through. I keep that with me.”

It was hard to watch the first handful of matches this fall. Herrick said she learned how to keep the book.

When she first got back she didn’t do any jumping or hitting for a month. She worked to build connections with her new setter, Kimmie Reichard.

“It was a little rocky the first couple matches,” Herrick said. “I got a breakthrough, and the connections got better.”

As high as Herrick has already soared in his program, Mosley believes her ceiling is higher.

“She has so much in her that is yet to come out,” Mosley said. “She can be the best all-time player to come out of this program.

“She has all the attributes, but to her that is nothing. These girls, they are done just winning regionals. They want more.”