BERKELEY, Calif. — Savannah Rennie realized last summer that something was terribly wrong.

Her health concerns began back home and continued once she arrived in Berkeley to start classes at the University of California and prepare to join the Golden Bears volleyball team as a freshman. She had unbearable headaches and high fevers. Nausea and loss of appetite. Soreness and then pain in her abdomen. Body aches and weight loss.

Not just the flu. Rennie knew that much.

Months later, she is headed to Indiana University to await a liver transplant because of a rare disease that has kept her off the court for Cal and thrown her a curveball at 19. She remains steadfast, determined to play volleyball again, surrounded by a campus community that has supported her through the tears, the missed classes, the isolation and the fear of leaving her friends behind with no firm return date.

“Volleyball’s my rock,” Rennie told her doctors, who assured her that her chances of playing again were strong. “I will be back. People are like, ‘It’s goodbye.’ It’s not bye. See you later.”

In September, Rennie was found to have congenital hepatic fibrosis with portal hypertension. The disease typically affects newborns and the elderly, not people her age.