Serena sweeps Somonauk as Hjerpe reaches 1,000 kills in regional opener

Serena senior Anna Hjerpe needed three kills to reach 1,000 for her high school career going into Tuesday's Class 1A regional quarterfinal at Al Stegman Court. She got the milestone kill early in the opening set and finished the match with 11 kills, helping the third-seeded Huskies beat 14th-seeded Somonauk 25-19, 25-13.

"I knew I needed three kills to reach 1,000, but to be honest, I kind of forgot about it when the match started," Hjerpe said. "It wasn't really a goal when I started high school, but I think midway through last season I started thinking it was a goal I could reach. I'm also really happy that I could do it here in my home gym."

Serena improved to 24-5-2 with the win. Somonauk finished its season at 14-13. The Huskies built a 13-2 lead in the first set behind five kills from Hjerpe and two aces from Brynley Glade. Madilyn Sterchi pushed the advantage to 17-4 on a kill.

Somonauk closed to 21-18 behind three kills from Shaynee King and two from Ady Werner. Serena then took four of the final five points, with Sterchi recording two kills and Parker Twait adding a block. "We talked in practice [on Monday] about how we had to make sure we blocked strong on [Somonauk's] outside hitters," Hjerpe said. "We wanted to try and take away the line and make them hit the ball cross-court. [Serena] Coach [Chris] Bjork said if we could do that, that our defense would take care of the rest."

The Huskies led 11-5 and 19-8 in the second set. Jaidynn Land's kill brought the Bobcats within 21-12, but Serena again closed strong, taking four of the last five points. Hjerpe served an ace and Sterchi recorded the match-ending kill.

Sterchi matched Hjerpe with 11 kills and added six service points. Glade contributed 14 digs, two aces and five points. Twait had four blocks, Alexa McNally had two kills and five digs, and Maddie Young recorded six digs and 21 assists.

Werner led Somonauk with six kills, King added four and Brooke Bahrey served two aces. "We were definitely out of sync at the beginning of the first set," Somonauk coach Christy Pruski said. "We were missing one of our starting seniors tonight.. we just could find the consistency we needed."

Serena advances to Wednesday's 7 p.m. semifinal against sixth-seeded Putnam County, which beat Earlville earlier Tuesday.