Coming off a 23-win season and a NCAA Tournament berth in 2018, there were very high expectations for the Chaminade University women's volleyball team in 2019. With three of their top attackers back, there were thoughts of challenging for the Pacific West Conference title and a return to the postseason for a second straight year.
The season began exactly how many anticipated it would. The ending, however, was not.
The Silverswords rolled to an 18-2 start to the year, the best in school history. Included was a school-record 13-match winning streak and a 12-0 mark in the PacWest heading into a highly anticipated showdown with defending conference champion Azusa Pacific on Oct. 25. Already holding a 4 1/2-match lead, a win would have solidified their grip of first place.
Instead the 'Swords were swept by the Cougars, their first loss in over a month and which proved to be the beginning of a painful stretch, literally and figuratively. Injuries began to mount which led to losses in of six of their seven outings. During the middle of the swoon in a loss at Hawai'i Pacific University, they fell out of first place for the first time in nearly seven weeks.
Although they recovered to win their final three matches of the season, the damage was already done and a second straight bid to the regional was not to be. At 22-8, Chaminade was one of eight schools in Division II with 22 or more wins not to qualify for the postseason.
"I felt we had an enormous amount of talent on the team this year with a team that had the capability to capture another bid to the NCAA Regionals," reflected
Kahala Kabalis Hoke who completed her eighth year as head coach. "However plagued with serious injuries to some of our key players, and at the most competitive time of our schedule, we were unable to push through a very physically and mentally demanding time for us."
Despite the disappointing outcome, there were many positives that were viewed in their campaign, not the least was consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in school history.
The senior class, with four-year members,
Emma Tecklenburg (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior), Isabelle Tessitore (San Diego/Torrey Pines) and
Nina Torio (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani), along with transfer
Alana Handy (Burlington, Wash./Bethune-Cookman Univ./Burlington-Edison HS) and the return of
Natashya Enos (Kahalu'u, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Saint Francis) depart with a record of 77-39, the most successful four-year run in school history.
Individually, Tecklenburg and junior
Rachel Reedy (Temple City, Calif./Arcadia) were named All-West Region by the D2CCA and AVCA, respectively, as well as All-PacWest First Team honors.
Lataisia Saulala (Morgan Hill, Calif./Oakwood) had a breakout sophomore year to earn all-conference second team honors at middle blocker while libero
Leka Kiner-Falefa (Honolulu/UNLV/Mid-Pacific Institute) was named the PacWest Newcomer of the Year after single-season record of 489 digs.
Tecklenburg wrapped up her career second on the school's all-time kills list with 1,292. Only Terri Bertulfo with 1,477 has more and she accomplished hers from 1990 to '94 before the advent of rally scoring. She also finished eighth all-time in kills per set (3.21) and sixth in aces (99).
Meanwhile Enos finished her career fifth in total assists with 2,041. She also had the unique position of having the experienced both ends of the winning and losing spectrum. She was a freshman on the 2014 team, the last to experience a losing season and ended her career with the second-most victories in a single season.
"Although we fell short of our goal of the conference championship and to advance to the postseason, we are trying to stay positive and look to the success we achieved this season," Kabalis Hoke said. "Back-to-back 20-win seasons shouldn't be something we hang our head over. I'm pleased with the direction our program has evolved to and we will continue to strive to return to the NCAA Tournament."
