LINCOLN — Jessica Yanz closed the book on her life as a volleyball player, and she was perfectly at peace about her decision to move on.

But Yanz's college career was defined by its unexpected twists and turns. Maybe it's fitting that another door opened only after she'd said her goodbyes.

When No. 7 Nebraska plays its home opener Thursday night, Yanz will be on the other side of the net from her former teammates, the starting setter for 20th-ranked Dayton. She couldn't have imagined that she'd be playing in this match back in December, when she decided to forgo her final season of eligibility at Nebraska.

Now, there's nowhere else she'd rather be.

“I'm so excited,” said Yanz, who earned a degree in business administration at NU. “I mean, six months ago, I never in a million years thought I'd be in this position — on my way to Lincoln, Nebraska, to play in the Coliseum. It was frustrating at times, putting in a lot of work — and maybe doing it all for nothing. But it was worth it in the end, and I'm really happy.”

Yanz's journey back to Lincoln this weekend is far from a typical transfer tale. It's a story of tragedy, an out-of-the-blue invitation, a rare NCAA waiver and lots of hard work by many people to make it happen.

Dayton, a perennial power in the Atlantic 10 conference, went 30-4 in 2009 and fell to Illinois in the second round of the NCAA tournament. But the Flyers lost both setters who starred in the 6-2 attack they ran last season. Freshman Hannah Clancey, from California, transferred to Pacific and returned to her home state. Then, on April 1, junior Kacie Hausfeld and her father were killed in a single-engine plane crash that rocked Dayton's program.

In sudden need of an experienced setter, Dayton coach Kelly Sheffield contacted several people in the volleyball community to see whether anyone might be available. One person Sheffield spoke to was Yanz's club coach, and that's when Dayton learned that the former Husker left NU with a year of remaining eligibility. Yanz was still in the process of trying to land a job, so it worked out that she was free to give volleyball another go.

Still, it was a long shot that everything would fall into place when Sheffield and Yanz first talked. She already had transferred from one Division I program to another when she left Penn State and joined the Huskers in 2008. By NCAA rule, she shouldn't have been able to transfer again without sitting out a season.

It was key, Dayton learned, that Yanz had already graduated. It was critical, too, that Nebraska approved of letting Yanz play for the Flyers. Yanz enrolled at Dayton as a grad student in the spring and began the process of petitioning the NCAA to play in 2010. She also hit the gym to train — toiling to get back into playing shape with no guarantee she'd ever return to the court.

On May 25, about four weeks after the process began, the NCAA granted her the waiver. Sheffield said Dayton's compliance people are aware of only two other comparable waivers in NCAA history.

“Nobody here feels like she's coming in here trying to replace Kacie,” said Sheffield, now in his third season as the Flyers' head coach. “To her credit, she's done a great job of just being herself. She's been a great teammate, and she's really had to be persistent through the entire process.

“And Nebraska had to be on board 100 percent — without that, there's no way this happens. I think people all around the country have a lot of respect for the way that program does things, and they certainly lived up to that here. It was clear they just wanted to do what was best for Jess.”

Yanz credited a long list of people at NU — from coach John Cook to Athletic Director Tom Osborne — for making her move to Dayton possible. She said it was a heartbreaking experience in 2008, when Penn State refused to grant her a scholarship release and she had to sit out her first full season in Lincoln. She said it was refreshing to have things work out differently this time.

Coincidentally, Dayton had agreed to play in Nebraska's 2010 Players Challenge tournament.

“We really encouraged her to consider this,” Cook said. “Because one, it would help Dayton. Two, it would give her an opportunity to maybe have closure to her career by having a significant role and kind of having a third chance.”

Yanz said she's been reinvigorated by the opportunity to be back on the court, running the offense once again for one of the top teams in the country.

A touted recruit out of Bolingbrook, Ill., Yanz twice had to settle for backup roles behind All-America setters — first Alisha Glass at Penn State, then Sydney Anderson at Nebraska. Because Yanz wasn't able to play in 2008, she never really got to compete with Anderson for the Huskers' starting job.

Finally, five years after she was named Illinois' Gatorade prep player of the year, Yanz now is getting the opportunity she always wanted.

The Flyers are off to a 5-1 start. They already have a victory over 18th-ranked Northern Iowa, and the team's lone loss came against No. 12 Minnesota. Yanz admitted she was nervous about joining a team that had lost a setter and a friend in such a cruel fashion. But she said the Flyers have done an amazing job of making her feel at home.

“I've been playing volleyball since I was 12 years old, and it was hard to just kind of quit cold turkey,” Yanz said. “I don't think I realized that when I made my decision in December. But getting back into the gym and working again with a team, it's been incredible.

“It just feels like this is the opportunity I never really had before, so I'm embracing it.”

Contact the writer:

444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

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