HONOLULU – Year 3 of the Chaminade University beach volleyball program begins Monday with a date against a very familiar foe.
The Silverswords face fellow third-year member Hawai'i Pacific University, the first of four straight meetings and five altogether in 2026. The two fledgling programs have met 12 times over the past two seasons.
Head coach
Kahala Kabalis Hoke leads the team once again as the program continues to mature in the hopes of replicating the department's highly successful indoor program.
There are 11 returnees from last year's squad that looks to replace the duo of
Letizia Cammillucci and
Anna Stucchi, who won six matches together as well as the team of
Nanna Inoue and
Mahala Ka'apuni with four.
Leilani Ama (Spokane, Wash./Mt. Spokane) has the most wins of any returnee, getting five wins with departee
Grace Talpash. Ama is recovering from an injury suffered during the indoor season and is questionable to play on the beach this spring.
That leaves senior
Kanoelehua Misipeka (Pago Pago, American Samoa/Liberty North, Mo.) as potentially the returnee with most combined victories from a year ago with three. Misipeka's 11 appearances last season was second to Ama's 12 while
DeLaney Poling (Gilbert, Ariz./Park University/Perry HS) had eight countable appearances followed by
Sina Bauer (Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany/Maximillian-von-Montgelas Gymnasium Vilsbiburg) with six.
The 'Swords will have 20 matches this season, the most in the short history of the program. After four straight against HPU to open the season, the program makes their first ever road trip outside the islands at the Corban Invitational in Salem, Oregon, in late February.
Chaminade returns home for the Heineken Queens Cup hosted by the University of Hawai'i in Waikiki from March 5-7 against a Division I-loaded field. They'll have four straight home dates against McKendree (twice), Santa Clara and Oregon before facing Hawai'i on the Manoa campus on April 11.
The Silverswords wrap up the season on April 16 with their fifth meeting of the season against HPU.
