The past two years of Oregon volleyball have been historic. 
It’s the first time in history that the program has made it this far consecutively. The only time that the Ducks have made it farther is when they were in the National Championship game and finished second in 2012. 
While the program has taken a turn for good, the 2022 and 2023 teams are different. Yes, they have the majority of the same players — notably missing from the current crew is Brooke Nuneviller and Gloria Mutiri but watching them play on the court has been a completely different experience. 

Last year, Oregon upset the then-ranked No. 2 Nebraska — the crown jewel of college volleyball. After losing the first set by 11, the Ducks would come back and win in the fourth set after 20 ties and nine lead changes, winning the set 32-30. 

“I’m just so proud of these guys,” Ulmer said after beating the Cornhuskers in 2022. “They never give up, ever. And I think you’ve heard it from them a bunch this year, but they never feel like they’re going to lose, no matter what the circumstances are. They just have total belief in themselves.”

Now, they’re not the underdogs in the situation. This is expected. Now, they have targets on their backs. Since the first round of the tournament, Oregon hasn’t lost a match — sweeping Southern Louisiana, Hawaii and Purdue. 

Against the Rainbow Warriors, the Ducks had a massive comeback in the first set. Hawaii had a seven-point lead against Oregon to start the match, forcing the Ducks to be perfect as the small errors continued to push them farther behind. 

But, they ended up winning the set.

And in the final two sets, it was clear who the winner was. 

At this time last year, Oregon had a weird pattern of losing by a large deficit in the opening set, forcing itself to play with unnecessary pressure. The Ducks allowed teams to go on large serving runs and would commit most of the errors throughout the game in the first set. Against Nebraska, they were held to a .026 hitting percentage in the first set. 

“Unfortunately, we’ve done that a lot this year,” head coach Matt Ulmer said in 2022. “I hate that characteristic about ourselves.”

Now, the Ducks hit .364 against the strong Boilermakers’ defense and won the first set by a 11 — the exact opposite of last year. 

“I just thought we never really let anything fluster us,” Ulmer said after beating Purdue on Thursday. “We made a handful more errors in the third set; credit to them, they upped their service game and put more pressure on us. They pushed us there, but we just kept going.”

The errors in the third set were early, causing back-and-forth scoring. But, a 6-1 run gave them the comfort needed to keep the streak alive. Oregon was forced to play five match points to clinch the win, but the offense couldn’t be rattled.

“We were doing really well and firing on all cylinders in the front row. Having me in the back row was just something that gets everyone else open,” Mimi Colyer said. “I think having Hannah [Pukis] was doing a really good job finding me, and it makes our offense a lot harder to stop.”

Colyer was lethal from the back row and finished with 14 kills and 11 digs for her 12th double-double, Gabby Gonzales added 10 kills with three aces and Karson Bacon and Kara McGhee combined for 13 kills and 10 blocks. Pukis finished with 42 assists with 10 digs for her 23rd double-double this season. 

While the two teams were different, there was one common factor: Morgan Lewis. 

“Morgan just made some huge plays for us,” Ulmer said after the Nebraska game. “It was really important to spread the floor, because it was just really left-side dominant early. So to be able to get that separation, that was important.” 
Lewis was able to take the load off of Colyer, opening her up to add some crucial points when the game was on the line. This time, she led the team in kills with 14 to extend her hot streak and they happened at important moments at the game — three of them came during a 4-0 run to start the game and three more during the 6-1 to break Purdue’s momentum in set three. 

As the Ducks prepare to face top-seeded and host Wisconsin on Saturday, we’ll see how the differences will play out. With a chance for a spot in the Final Four last season, Oregon lost to then-No.1 Louisville in five, heartbreaking sets to end its 16-game win streak. But, this year’s team is just different.