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On Wednesdays a group of Portland lesbians are not wearing pink; they’re sporting black tees and bumping, setting and spiking for their volleyball team, Bump, Set, Dyke (instagram.com/bumpsetdykepdx). Perhaps you’ve seen them volleying at a Portland park or the Sellwood Community House. Maybe you’ve come across their Instagram while looking for a queer sports team to join.
The inclusive lesbian-centered volleyball team started practicing last February out of frustration and despair during the post-election season, founder and coach Meylin Gorman says.
“I wanted to create a space that was geared toward the lesbian community—geared toward the queer community overall—where people can come together,” she says. “I felt like that was the most impactful thing I could do at the time.”
Gorman, 25, spent most of her high school years playing volleyball and craved getting back into a hobby she missed so much. After a few weeks mulling over the idea of starting a lesbian volleyball team, her girlfriend’s mom suggested she should name the team Bump, Set, Dyke.
“It was such a perfect name,” she says. “After that I was like, OK, I should start an Instagram and make some posters.”
Through extensive planning and a successful GoFundMe campaign to rent gym space, Bump, Set, Dyke was born. The growing team consists of a couple of dozen primarily lesbian women, ages ranging from 18 to mid-50s, of all different athletic abilities. One of the older members, Crystal Conway, points out that the wide age range has allowed different generations of lesbians to learn from one another.
“Meylin created something really special,” she says. “There is just something to be said about different generations all together as a collective. It’s a really beautiful thing.”
The team operates very casually, allowing anyone to join for as many or as few practices as they choose. Gorman says she is looking into the option of giving those who want to play competitively a chance to do so, but she is also very content with the way things are.
“I remember watching a practice and noticing how encouraging everyone was,” she says. “There’s this mindset of we are literally going to uplift and encourage anyone who decides to come and play, no matter what their background is. That to me is pretty special.”
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2025 here!
