HONOLULU – The Chaminade University women's volleyball team will face No. 2 seed and co-regular season champion Fresno Pacific in the semifinals of the Pacific West Conference Volleyball Championships this week at McCabe Gymnasium.
The Silverswords (16-13, 9-3 PacWest), the third seed with their match against the Sunbirds set for Thursday at 7:30 p.m. No. 1 seed Point Loma and fourth-seeded University of Hawai'i Hilo will meet in the first semifinal at 4:30 p.m. The winners will meet in Friday's 6 p.m. championship match.
The PacWest Championships was resurrected after a 25-year hiatus. Previous incarnations of the tournament, held in 1998, 1999 and 2000 to determine the overall PacWest champions, did not have an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament. This year, the tournament champion will be the PacWest's automatic qualifier to the NCAA postseason.
Schedule:
Thursday, Nov. 20
4:30 p.m.: No. 1 Point Loma vs. No. 4 Hawai'i Hilo
7:30 p.m.: No. 2 Fresno Pacific vs. No. 3 Chaminade
Friday, Nov. 20
6:00 p.m.: Winner 1/4 vs. Winner 2/3
Tickets: Single-day tickets can be purchased at this
link.
Live stream: All three matches will be on the PacWest Network on a pay-per-view basis at this
link.
No. 3 Chaminade (16-13, 9-3 PacWest) vs. No. 2 Fresno Pacific (23-1, 11-1 PacWest)
The Silverswords: Freshman outside hitter
Lillie Hinton (Spicewood, Texas/Lake Travis) leads the 'Swords in kills at 2.57 per set while senior right-side hitter
Alizaysha Sopi (Waianae, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Tennessee State University/Kapolei HS) leads in total kills (249) … middle blocker
Reina Krueger (Fort Collins, Colo./Liberty Commons) ranks among conference leaders in attack percentage (.324) and blocks per set (1.05) ...
Tabby Allen (Leander, Texas/Rouse) leads the conference in total service aces with 49 … setters
Allexis Iramina (Honolulu/Moanalua) and
Lilinoe Paschoal (Wailuku, Maui, Hawai'i/Baldwin) have combined for 1,013 assists and 51 aces.
Head coach Kahala Kabalis Hoke (14th year; career record 258-144): The three-time PacWest Coach of the Year guided the Silverswords to their first-ever PacWest Championships berth … the 'Swords did not qualify in each of the three years the conference held a tournament from 1998-2000 … her PacWest record is 172-96 … since 2021, she has an overall record of 126-35 and conference mark of 82-10.
About the Sunbirds: FPU, picked to finish fifth in the PacWest Preseason Coaches Poll, is ranked 10th in the latest AVCA Division II Coaches Poll … the Sunbirds ran off 23 straight wins to start the season before seeing their undefeated year come to an end last Saturday in a five-set defeat at Point Loma which determined the tournament's top seed … Fresno Pacific leads the conference in digs (17.29 per set) and is second in the conference in attack percentage (.246), kills per set (13.93) and service aces (1.67) … two Sunbirds, Geneva Elliott and Mikayla Weiss, rank 2 and 3 among the PacWest's hitting percentage category at .412 and .398, respectively … FPU has one of the most balanced attacks in the conference with five players averaging two or more kills per set, led by Makayla Smith's 2.80.
Series history:
Chaminade leads 18-4 … the Sunbirds won the only meeting this season, a four-set win, in Fresno on Nov. 7 … the loss to FPU snapped a 16-match winning streak in the series dating back to October 2014 … this will be the final meeting between the two programs members of the PacWest as Fresno Pacific moves to the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) in 2026.
