Oregon volleyball returns to the court after a special 2022 season. They ended their regular season 23-5 with 17 conference wins — which surpassed the 16 conference wins from the No. 2 ranked 2012 team. The Ducks won all of their home matches and ended the season with a 16-game win streak before being knocked out of the tournament.
After losing a heartbreaker to No. 1 Louisville in five sets in the Elite Eight and losing some valuable key players like Brooke Nuneviller and Gloria Mutiri, who won All-American honors during their career at Oregon, the Ducks are looking to set the bar even higher heading into the 2023 season.
Despite losing those players who contributed heavily to their success, Oregon will have returners and new players that will help them push that bar higher.
Out of the strong group of returning players, Mimi Colyer is the headliner. The American Volleyball Coaches Association National Freshman of the Year is the first player in program history to receive that award and the seventh in the Pac-12. She’s also the first freshman in program history to be voted to one of the three All-American teams and the second in UO history to win Pac-12 Freshman of the Year after Michelle Krebsbach won it in 1986.
After leading all NCAA freshmen with 616.5 points and 544 kills, she set a conference record with eight Freshman of the Week selections. After 26 kills against Nebraska in the Sweet 16, she pushed the Ducks into the Elite Eight. Colyer quickly made a strong impression in Eugene, and even though she’ll be handed a heavy load with Nuneviller leaving, she’s ready.
Colyer wouldn’t have had the success she did last season without returning setter Hannah Pukis. The senior became the third UO setter to earn All-American honors after setting a new career high of 11.18 assists per set, which ranked second in the Pac-12 and tenth across the NCAA. Pukis helped the Ducks set a new program record with a .293 hitting percentage 11 times over the season, leading the team to a .300 and higher hitting percentage.
Out of the transfer portal, Oregon Volleyball added more depth to their roster this season with the acquisition of Onye Ofoegbu, a middle blocker from UC Irvine. This past season, she led the Big West Conference with 143 total blocks and a .372 hitting percentage with a career high of 3.39 kills per set, 4.31 points per set, 1.28 blocks per set and 24 service aces. 
Gabby Gonzales will be playing her senior season with the Ducks after transferring from Ohio State. The 2022 AVCA All-Northeast Region Honorable Mention averaged 3.29 kills and 2.59 digs per set along and paired it with 40 service aces last season for her new career highs. 
Kara McGhee, a middle blocker transfer from Baylor, was a three time All-Big 12 athlete and was named to the first team twice. Last season, she averaged a new career high of 3.25 points per set with 2.41 kills and averaged a .368 hitting percentage. McGee led the Big 12 and eighth nationally in blocks with 1.49 per set, which was another career high she set during her last season in Waco, Texas.
Two incoming freshmen for the Ducks, Noemie Glover and Becca Kelley, were named two of the 19 athletes to the U.S. Girls U19 World Championship roster and will train together at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. From there, 12 athletes from the roster will be chosen to compete in the FIVB U19 Girls World Championship in Osijek, Croatia and Szeged, Hungary.
In her final high school season, Glover led Cathedral Catholic to a 42-0 season and a state title after hitting .550 with 13 kills and five blocks in the championship game. Kelley was named to the Texas All-State team for Rockwall High School after she hit 20 or more kills in 13 different matches including a 40-kill performance.
The Pac-12 is one of the hardest conferences to play volleyball in. Schools competing in the conference have won 17 out of 42 all-time NCAA championships –– four more than the next conference. A Pac-12 team has been one of the final four teams in all but six years of the NCAA tournament, in addition to at least one Pac-12 team playing in 27 of the 42 NCAA title matches: the most in any Power Five program. Last season, eight teams finished above .500 overall, while seven teams won double-digit conference matches. Eight Pac-12 athletes earned All-American honors while 23 were put on AVCA All-Region teams.
Last season, half of the Pac-12 teams made it into the NCAA tournament. Stanford and Oregon were the only teams to advance past the Sweet 16, but both teams got knocked out in the Elite Eight. In the NCAA’s preseason ranking, the Ducks are ranked No. 9. After a historic season in 2022, Oregon and Pac-12 Volleyball continue to set the standard for the sport.