Pukis Setting The Pace For Ducks

LOUISVILLE — When Hannah Pukis entered the transfer portal a year ago, she wrote down a list of questions she had about potential new schools.

As the all-Pac-12 volleyball setter sought answers to those questions from head coaches, the list of outgoing calls on her phone grew and grew. And after one call in particular, her messages inbox quickly filled up, too.

When members of the UO volleyball team found out Pukis was looking for a new home, they made it clear she’d be welcomed in Eugene with open arms.

“I think seven Oregon players reached out to me,” Pukis recalled. “And that’s carried over — I couldn’t ask for better teammates. Those people are what made the transition so easy.”

Joining the Ducks has indeed looked like a smooth transition for Pukis, who in her first season with the program earned her third career AVCA Pacific North all-region honor. With Pukis distributing the ball as their setter this season, the Ducks are fourth in the nation with a .298 hitting percentage entering their NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen matchup against Nebraska on Thursday (8 a.m. PT, ESPNU).

Oregon takes a 25-5 record into Thursday’s NCAA regional semifinal, which is being hosted by Louisville. The Ducks are 22-2 with Pukis as their starter, having hit .300 or better in 11 of the 14 Pac-12 Conference matches she started.

“Hannah impacts us in a variety of ways, but I think one that’s really hard to measure until she’s in the gym is just how confident she is as a teammate,” UO coach Matt Ulmer said. “As a leader, her voice is so consistent. She has total belief in her abilities. It’s been fun to coach, fun to work with.”

Pukis began her career at Washington State, helping the Cougars reach the NCAA Tournament each of the past three seasons. On Thursday, she’ll make her first career appearance in a regional semifinal.

It was almost exactly a year ago that WSU’s 2021 season ended in the second round of the tournament, and Pukis opted to enter the portal. She enrolled at Oregon for the winter quarter, giving her all of 2022 to build chemistry with her new team — a transition that would have been much more difficult the previous two years due to pandemic protocols.

“Volleyball is such a team sport; one side of that is playing together as a team, but the other is getting to know each other, getting that chemistry and developing those relationships,” Ulmer said. “With Hannah coming in in January, she had a chance to do that. And I think, from day one, she has felt pretty…