Not many people get second chances in life.
But Lindsey Yamasaki, a senior outside hitter for the Stanford volleyball team, is getting an opportunity she never thought she’d have.
The Oregon City native, once a promising two-sport star, opted after her freshman season with the Cardinal to drop volleyball and focus solely on basketball, a decision that has since paid off in the form of a roster spot with the WNBA’s Miami Sol.
But the fifth-year senior decided — needing just one term to receive her undergraduate degree — to give volleyball one last try.
So far this season, Yamasaki is sixth on the team in kills with 79, including a career-high 16 against San Jose State on Sept. 6.

“I’m just glad I got a second chance,” Yamasaki said. “I don’t think I had really high expectations. I came back to compete and contribute.”
Yamasaki has definitely contributed to the defending national champions, a team that’s currently ranked sixth in the nation.
Coming into the season, not much was expected of Yamasaki, especially considering it had been three years since she played competitive volleyball. But Yamasaki’s role off the bench has been expanded lately and led to a start against Washington last week.
“I am an integral part of the team,” Yamasaki said. “I’m not just the girl who came back and sits on the bench.
“I’m paying to do it. It’s not like I’m coming back just because I can.”
In her last three seasons with the Cardinal basketball team, she failed to win a national championship, as Stanford lost in the NCAA Tournament to Georgia in 2000, Oklahoma in 2001 and Colorado in 2002.
Last season, Stanford volleyball won its fifth national title, a fact not lost on Yamasaki, who said she was “so emotional” for her former teammates.
Still, she doesn’t regret her decision to drop volleyball after her first year in college. If she hadn’t, she may have never had the opportunity to be drafted by the Sol in the second round.
“I feel like I’ve made decisions for myself that have positively and negatively affected my career,” Yamasaki said.
Often considered a player that got away from Oregon — especially since the Ducks have a high-profile basketball program — Yamasaki said she never really considered Oregon. Instead, her choices narrowed to Vanderbilt, Connecticut and the eventual winner, Stanford.
“My mindset was that I was going to go somewhere different,” she said.
That came as no surprise to Shaquala Williams, a former opponent on the basketball court. Williams, a senior point guard for the Ducks, said she has known Yamasaki since the two were in eighth grade and didn’t have a doubt in her mind where she would attend school.
“Since the day she saw a Stanford uniform, I knew that was where she was going,” Williams said. “There was no surprise there, and I was happy for her and that she had such a great career.”
Today’s volleyball match between Oregon and Stanford — scheduled for a 7 p.m. start at Maples Pavilion — marks the final time Yamasaki will take on the Ducks.
In her five seasons as a Cardinal, she has duked it out with Oregon a total of 11 times. In volleyball, she has never lost to the Ducks, as a 3-0 record would attest, and in what has become one of the nation’s top conference rivalries, Yamasaki was 5-3 against the Ducks in basketball.
“She’s an all-around good player,” Oregon senior basketball player Alissa Edwards said. “I just know from playing against her that she’s a great player. I think it would have been great if she would have been here.”
Save for a possible exhibition game at McArthur Court, Yamasaki will never again get a chance to play at The Pit. Oregon fans will miss that, as it offered them a chance to remind Yamasaki that she should have played for the Ducks.
“My freshman year, it was really harsh when I played at Oregon,” she said. “I really didn’t feel comfortable there until my junior year. It wasn’t a comfortable situation.”
But Stanford has been a comfortable situation, and Yamasaki has made the most of it.