Oregon
No. 10 Oregon Ducks Volleyball Prepares for Season Opener Against No. 4 Pitt
EUGENE- The Oregon Ducks volleyball program is continuing to prepare for the upcoming season with an exhibition match. Saturday at 4 p.m. PDT, the Ducks faced Oregon State in an exhibition game just an hour north of Eugene in Corvallis at Gill Coliseum.
With just six days until the season opener against Pittsburgh, Oregon coach Matt Ulmer is looking to get his athletes as much experience and repetition as possible ahead of their 2024 season debut.
“You learn a lot more from this than you do from practice,” Ulmer said following Oregon’s Green-Yellow Scrimmage. “We start with Pittsburgh, who’s going to be, I think, a top-five team coming out of the gate. So, I think we’re in a good spot, but we have a couple of weeks to get a little bit better.”
The Oregon volleyball program will open the season as the No. 10 team in the AVCA preseason poll. This is the second consecutive season and third time in program history for the Ducks to start their year among the top 10 teams in the country. The Ducks will open the 2024 season against a top-five ranked opponent in Pittsburgh.
One way Ulmer is challenging his Ducks ahead of the season opener against No. 4 ranked Pittsburgh is through competing in an exhibition match against former conference opponent Oregon State. Oregon and Oregon State have competed in the same conference for years, however, with conference realignment coming into play this season for the Ducks and many other programs around the nation, the Oregon volleyball program will not face the Beavers in the regular season. While Oregon will be a member of the Big Ten conference and playing a Big Ten schedule, Oregon State remains a member of the Pac-12 Conference alongside Washington State, the only other team left in the Pac-12.
Oregon State will play a West Coast Conference (WCC) schedule starting Sep. 26 against Pepperdine. The Beavers rank third in the WCC preseason standings.
One player to watch in Saturday’s scrimmage is junior outside hitter Mimi Colyer. Earlier this month, Colyer was named to the 2024 Big Ten Volleyball Preseason All-Conference Team.
Colyer has been making a dramatic impact for Oregon since her arrival in Eugene. As a true freshman in 2022, Colyer had great success becoming the first player in program history to win AVCA National Freshman of the Year and seventh in conference history. Colyer was also the first freshman in Oregon volleyball history to be voted to one of the three All-America teams and the second in UO history to win conference Freshman of the Year. Colyer led all NCAA freshmen with 616.5 points and 544 kills, ranking 10th and 11th nationally.
Colyer’s dominance extended into her sophomore season where she led the Ducks with 471 kills and 4.43 points per set, fourth in the Pac-12. She was second on the team with 13 double-doubles and had career highs in digs (302) and aces (44).
This year, as one of the Ducks’ only returning starters, Colyer’s role is changing both on and off the court. Off the court, Colyer serves as a leader for Oregon’s newcomers, and on the court, Colyer, a player known for her offensive prowess, will take on a larger defensive responsibility.
“She’s got a lot of help around her right now to score,” Ulmer explained. “We’re asking her now to pass more, play more defense, do some different things than what she’s done in the past. So, it’ll take some time for her to transition, but I know she can do it. I know she has the skill set to do it.”
More players poised to be a force and key parts of Oregon’s rotation are Oregon’s four experienced seniors. This year’s senior class includes returners Daley McClellan and Onye Ofoegbu and transfers Mackenzie Morris and Michelle Ohwobete.
As the Oregon Ducks prepare for their highly anticipated season opener against Pittsburgh the exhibition match against Oregon State offers a valuable opportunity for evaluation and preparation. With a talented roster and a determined coaching staff, Oregon is well-positioned to compete at a high level in the coming season.
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The Jets, with their 16th pick of Thursday’s first round of the NFL Draft, might have been tempted to move up to grab one of the set of hands that appealed to them in this draft class. But the Green & White remained patient and stayed put at 16 and were rewarded by being able to select Kenyon Sadiq, the draft’s top tight end out of Oregon.
“It’s unreal, man. Need to be the Jets. It’s special,” said Sadiq of being selected 16th overall and by the Green & White. “My sister currently lives in New York, so I’m happy to get down there. But great interactions with all the staff, in meetings and everything. So I’m beyond excited, super grateful.
“David Bailey said it already,” Sadiq added about Bailey, the Texas Tech edge taken second overall. “This organization is trending in the right direction. And I’m just a piece that can help and I’m ready to help. Whatever the team needs me to do, I’m going to do it.”
Sadiq, known by some as “Sadiq the Freak,” put his athleticism and receiving skills on full display last season with an Oregon single-season tight ends record of 51 catches for 560 yards and 8 receiving touchdowns, which led all FBS tight ends. He was named a second-team All-American and the Big Ten TE of the Year and was a finalist for the John Mackey Award, which goes to the nation’s top tight.
After the season’s end, Sadiq went to the NFL Combine in February and demonstrated some of that freakishness in dominating his position. He turned in a 4.39-second 40, best among TEs not only this year but for the past 14 Combines. He also notched a 43.5-inch vertical leap, an 11-1 broad jump and 26 reps in the bench press, all second at his position.
“I’ve got all the attributes,” he told the Jets media Thursday. “I mean, the Combine showed that.”
Sadiq joins a tight ends room that is now brimming with talent. Mason Taylor, last year’s second-rounder (42nd overall) out of LSU and Jeremy Ruckert, their 2022 third-rounder (101st) are already there and the group will be helpful not only to new/old veteran starting QB Geno Smith but also the Breece Hall-lead running game.
What exactly will Sadiq add to the room, the offense and the ’26 Green & White?
“I think it’s versatility, speed and toughness, bro, seriously,” he said. “I think I can help in the running and passing game on top of that. I’m sure I’m on special teams as well. That’s what I did at Oregon, and that’s what I’ll continue to do. I can create separation, but I can also go hit someone. Obviously, the NFL is different. I’m going to have to clean some things up. But, man, I’m going to go hit somebody. I’m not going to be scared.”
Sadiq is only the fourth Oregon player to be drafted by the Jets and the first in 20 years, since QB Kellen Clemens came to the Green & White in 2006 in Round 2. Other Ducks to become Jets through the draft were DB Reggie Grant in Round 9 of the 1978 draft and TE Blake Spence in the fifth round in 1998.
And the choice may well extend the Green & White’s track record of taking good to very good TEs in Round 1. Johnny Mitchell got the ball rolling in 1992 and was followed by Kyle Brady in 1996, Anthony Becht in 2000 and Dustin Keller in 2008.
The good times keep on rolling for the Oregon Ducks in the recruiting world. Dan Lanning and the Ducks scored a massive commitment from five-star quarterback Will Mencl out of Chandler, Arizona.
Oregon had been rumored to be leading the race for Mencl’s services for months, but the No. 1 quarterback in the country, per Rivals, cleared the air and committed to the Ducks on Wednesday evening. Mencl chose the Ducks over Auburn and Penn State, both of which battled hard for him down the stretch.
However, Mencl has been connected to Oregon for a long time. While he was offered last fall before breaking out in his junior season, Mencl has been a fan of the program long before he popped up on the Ducks’ recruiting radar. In a post shared by Rivals recruiting expert Steve Wiltfong, Mencl was announced as a quarterback for the Ducks when he was a kid at the 2019 NFL Draft fan experience in 2019.
Now, Mencl is ready to don the green and yellow for real and make his childhood dreams come true. The Ducks have made a point to get Mencl on campus as often as possible and as recently as last week. The continued connection between both sides is ultimately what made the decision easy for the nation’s top passer. Mencl said he told Lanning and the Oregon staff about his decision on Sunday.
“The biggest thing was the relationship with the staff,” Mencl said after committing. “I feel like that continued to grow over time, especially when I first got there last spring. Being able to sit down with Coach Koa, really being an underlooked guy at that time, and kind of blowing up my junior season. And then, the path to the NFL. You can’t deny what they do with quarterbacks and the type of scheme they run. I felt like that was the best fit for me and my family to get to the next level.”
Koa Ka’ai, Oregon’s new quarterback coach, made waves earlier in the offseason after his recruiting test about ice cream flavors went viral, but that doesn’t appear to have scared Mencl off. In fact, the two have a close connection that Oregon hopes will translate to success on the field in the near future.
“My relationship with Coach Koa, I feel like that is super, super strong,” Mencl told Rivals. “I’ve had a lot of discussions with Coach Lanning about the culture there and how they’re going to continue to sustain greatness throughout the program.”
Mencl exploded onto the national recruiting scene with a massive junior season for Chandler. He completed more than 70% of his passes for 3,815 yards and 33 touchdowns against five interceptions in his junior season, leading Chandler to a state title berth. He also rushed for 741 yards and an additional 17 touchdowns.
The Ducks expect to have some competition for Mencl to compete with when he joins the team for the 2027 season, with Dylan Raiola and Akili Smith Jr. already on the roster and competing for a role as the backup. Oregon has gone to the transfer portal as well in recent seasons, finding success with Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel, and now Dante Moore.
Oregon has recruited well at quarterback in the past, establishing an NFL pedigree that attracted Mencl. Maybe he will be the one to buck the trend and give the Ducks a true, homegrown product under center.
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