The Chaminade University women's volleyball team provided fans with a memorable 2024 season, capped by reaching the NCAA West Regional semifinals for the third straight year.
It not only established themselves as an elite program in the west but also served noticed to the rest of the country as one of the best in Division II. Ranked as high as No. 4 in the AVCA poll, the highest national ranking in program history, the team finished eighth in the final poll.
A challenging but successful preseason slate led to the Silverswords' program-record 18-match win streak and their third Pacific West Conference title in the past four years, doing so in historic fashion. The 'Swords won all 20 PacWest matches, posting the first undefeated conference slate in seven years and just the eighth time in the history of the PacWest. Their 28 wins are the second-most in program history, surpassed only by the 2023 team that won 30 times.
Thirteenth-year head coach
Kahala Kabalis Hoke put together one of the most ambitious non-conference schedules with appearances in the Yotes Classic Showcase and the Colorado Premier Challenge. Both tournaments were heavy in nationally ranked teams, the Yotes Classic with a mainly west coast presence while the Challenge featured the top teams across the nation.
Sweeps over 2023 Division II national champion Cal State Los Angeles and Yotes Classic host Cal State San Bernardino in consecutive matches was a harbinger of things to come. A week later in Denver, the 'Swords truly established themselves as a national power with wins over AVCA No. 2-ranked Wayne State of Nebraska and No. 3 MSU Denver, reaching the Premier Challenge championship match against traditional power West Texas A&M. In a span of that one week, Chaminade defeated four of the top eight ranked teams in the AVCA poll.
The Silverswords proceeded to run the PacWest table including a four-set win in a highly anticipated Nov. 15 conference showdown at Point Loma where both teams were undefeated.
Chaminade then rolled past CCAA tournament champs Stanislaus State in the West Regional opening round but saw their winning streak and season end to eventual region champion and NCAA national runner-up San Francisco State in the semifinals.
Individually, the 'Swords put five on the All-PacWest First Team: outside hitters
Letizia Cammillucci (Padova, Italy/San Jose State/Liceo Amedeo di Savoia Duca D'asosta HS) and
Mahala Ka'apuni (Hilo, Hawai'i/Alaska Anchorage/Hilo HS), middle blockers
Lizanyela Lopez (Lima, Peru/Trinity Valley CC/Saco Oliveros HS) and
Anna Stucchi (Roncello, Italy/Santa Clara University/I.I.S. Ezio Vanoni HS) and setter
Grace Talpash (Temecula, Calif./University of Oklahoma/Great Oak HS), all of whom were seniors.
Cammillucci, Stucchi and Talpash were also recognized as all-region and AVCA All-Americans. All three also established new single season records: Cammillucci with 61 service aces, Stucchi the hitting percentage mark at .433 and Talpash the assists record with 1,160.
Among personal statistical milestones, senior
Kendall Rios (Tustin, Calif./Foothill) ended her career with 118 aces, the fourth-highest in team history while senior libero
Nanna Inoue (Kula, Maui, Hawai'i/Tyler JC/King Kekaulike HS) had 1,004 career digs, just the sixth player in school history to reach the millennium digs plateau.
Heavenly Campbell (Waialua, O'ahu, Hawai'i/College of Southern Idaho/Damien HS) and
Brooklyn Poling (Gilbert, Ariz./Western Carolina Univ./Perry HS) were the other two seniors who bid aloha to the team.
