As a star in the back row for the Oregon volleyball team, Georgia Murphy doesn’t mind that — it suits her, even. The same mentality explains why her senior season with the Ducks is going to be just a little bit busier than her first four years.
Murphy, a fifth-year starter from The Woodlands, Texas, is the linchpin of Oregon’s defense, and a catalyst for the offense. Her job is to keep balls off the floor, and execute deft passes that put setter Hannah Pukis in position to distribute the ball to the Ducks’ many offensive weapons.
UO coach Matt Ulmer, whose team hosts Washington on Friday in Matthew Knight Arena, has high praise for Murphy. And he wishes she heard more of it, from other corners of the volleyball community. Because while Murphy racks up the main back-row defensive stat, digs — she averages 3.63 per set for her career — that doesn’t come close to encapsulating her impact for the No. 6 Ducks.
“Every year I’m frustrated with the lack of recognition that Georgia gets,” Ulmer said. “Because in my opinion she’s one of the best liberos out there. We don’t even chart serve-receive stats — like, it’s not even calculated when you’re talking about awards — and she’s one of the very best at that. So she gets overlooked all the time.”
Murphy is by nature a helper. Off the court, she’s interested in a career in nursing. She spent parts of this past summer interning at a local clinic in Eugene-Springfield. And though the internship is technically over, Murphy intends to spend a night or two each week this fall helping out — amidst all her other priorities as a student-athlete.
“I would say that’s my personality,” said Murphy, a 2021 honorable mention all-American and two-time honorable mention all-Pac-12 player in her career. “I really enjoy taking pressure off other people. I love other people being happy, and other people being successful.”
Ulmer said one of the central tenants of his program is “servant leadership.” Murphy embodied that spirit this summer.
Her internship was with the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic of Springfield, which for the last 20 years has provided health-care services to low-income members of the community. Along with Uxia Martinez Moral of the UO tennis team, Murphy spent her summer working at the clinic’s front desk, helping manage the office and screen patients.
“Working with people that really needed the help and…
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