Sheffield filled that spot by signing a high school star, picking up a college transfer from Santa Clara, then pulling off perhaps the biggest coup in his three-year stint as UD’s coach.
Jessica Yanz, a former Penn State and Nebraska player, has one year of eligibility left and will suit up for the Flyers this season.
She was the Gatorade volleyball player of the year in Illinois and one of the top recruits in the nation after leading Naperville Central High School in suburban Chicago to a state title in 2005. While she was able to be part of a national championship at Penn State and a Final Four trip at Nebraska, she played behind a pair of All-Americans at each locale and saw little action.
Yanz graduated this spring with a degree in business administration and decided that she would pass up a chance to play as a fifth-year senior — until Sheffield made a call to her former club coach, Rick Butler.
“That’s a setter factory up there, and I asked him if he knew anybody who fell between the cracks and was still looking,” Sheffield said. “He said, ‘Not really, but Yanz might be looking for something like this.’
“He talked to her, and she was interested. I said, ‘OK, let’s see what the NCAA has to say about this.’ ”
Unlike transfers in football and basketball, volleyball players don’t have to sit out a year after switching schools for the first time, but Yanz needed a special waiver from the NCAA because UD would be her third stop. She got it.
“As a college athlete, you always want to compete,” she said. “Unfortunately, I played behind two All-American setters both places I went. That’s just the way it worked out. But I’m just so excited to play again and get a chance to compete for a conference or national championship.”
The Flyers, who had a 30-4 record last season and finished as the 25th-ranked team nationally, return all of their starters at other positions, and Yanz could be the missing piece they need for a deep NCAA tourney run.
But what drew Yanz to UD most was a chance to be part of the healing process after Hausfeld’s death.
“This team, obviously, has gone through a lot the last few months. I can’t put into words what it’d be like if I had gone through that situation,” she said.
“To take something so terrible and turn it around and give them some hope ... I’m so excited about this opportunity just to help out and make it a good year.”
Contact this writer at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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