When Savannah Rennie registered her first and only kill in Cal’s 3-0 home loss to Utah on Friday, her teammates, people in the crowd, coaches, staff — all stood cheering and applauding, some crying. Even Rennie herself teared up a bit.
About five months ago, that would have seemed like only a dream for Rennie, who was about to get a new liver.
A high school standout, Rennie graduated early to join the Cal program in 2015. That June, she became ill, and three months later she was told she had congenital hepatic fibrosis with portal hypertension— a rare, life-threatening liver disease that would require a transplant.
In mid-May, she underwent the transplant. In August, she showed up for her first Cal practice. And on Friday, she made her long-awaited and once improbable collegiate debut.
Cal was behind 23-14 in the third set when Rennie connected on a back set to hit down the line.
“Ever since I got sick, I thought about it every single day, that moment of going in and trying to make a difference,” Rennie told the Pac-12 Network in a postgame interview.
She said she had been visualizing that moment “every day, multiple times a day, probably every minute.”
“It’s been a long journey, so I teared up a little bit, but I knew I had to keep it together on the court to show no weakness — that’s just me. It was definitely an emotional moment.”
Savannah Rennie returned to the court after a life-saving liver transplant and recorded her first career kill. Tonight was a special night. pic.twitter.com/hiloZhS9bk
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) October 8, 2016
Rennie is ready to get focus on the next four years, though.
“It’s a great feeling, but it’s also a relief,” she said in a Cal press release. “That first moment is something I will always cherish, but it’s over now. I can finally just focus on playing.”
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