January 31, 2008

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (UWIRE) --

At a team meeting after winter break, sophomore Jessica Yanz informed her former volleyball teammates that she had decided to leave Penn State's program, but she had yet to decide where she would attend.

Last week, she finally made her decision -- enrolling at Nebraska, which boasts three NCAA titles including a championship in 2006. Her playing status for next season has yet to be determined. She could play this fall pending Penn State granting a transfer exemption.

Both Penn State coach Russ Rose and Nebraska coach John Cook declined to comment yesterday on Yanz's status for next season.

Although the players learned of Yanz's decision when they returned from winter break, Rose and his staff knew earlier than the team that she may leave.

"We knew over break that she wanted to go another direction," Rose said. "We indicated that if she doesn't want to be at Penn State that she should pursue her dreams. So she elected to leave."

In her two years as a Nittany Lion, Yanz played sparingly behind starting sophomore setter Alisha Glass.

Yanz played in only half of Penn State's 36 matches and averaged 6.33 assists per game. In Penn State's 3-0 loss to Nebraska, Yanz saw the majority of the playing time at setter as she racked up 22 assists. She started the next four matches early in the 2007 championship season before Glass reclaimed the starting spot and earned All-America honors.

Despite her lack of time on the court, Rose and Glass said Yanz played a key role in the team's run to its second national championship.

"She was always offering insight during the match and what she could see that I couldn't and just kind of selfless acts like that," Glass said. "We as a team are going to miss her as am I as a player and fellow teammate."

An opening at the setter position for the Cornhuskers was created when two-time All-American Rachel Holloway decided to step away from the sport after her sophomore season.

If Yanz is eligible to play this fall, she will compete with fellow transfer and former Utah starting setter Sydney Anderson.

"We had a definite need for a setter," Cook said. "Normally we wouldn't look at this point, but we needed to."

Unexpectedly, Rose and Penn State are forced to quickly find a replacement for Yanz as the back-up setter for Glass. Rose said they are "in communication" with several possibilities since there is no one on the current team with a solid setting background.

Yanz is only the fifth player to transfer from Penn State in Rose's 29 years of coaching so he hasn't had many chances to deal with this kind of situation, he said. For the players, the chance of meeting Yanz as a Cornhusker is on their minds but it's also not a focus point.

"As a player, seeing one of our teammates leave to go to a program that's going to be competitive with us, it's a hard situation to be in," Glass said. "But it's happened, and you can't control the things that happen, and we'll just have to move on from here."

(C) 2008 Daily Collegian via UWIRE