The 2024 season marks the eighth year for Amanda Vazquez with the Chaminade University women's volleyball program. She spent her first four years as a volunteer assistant and one year as an assistant before returning on a volunteer basis in 2022.
The 2023 season saw the Silverswords win a record 30 matches, earning the top seed at the NCAA West Regional for the first time ever. They also achieved the highest AVCA national ranking in the team's Division II history, peaking at No. 12 in mid-September before finishing 13th.
Vazquez helped the 2022 team win their second straight Pacific West Conference title, a program first. Making the West Regional in Bellingham, Washington, the 'Swords, seeded No. 8, made an improbable run, shocking Alaska Anchorage, the region's top seed in the opening round and advanced to the West title match for the first time ever.
In 2021, she helped the Silverswords achieve one of the greatest seasons in program history with their first PacWest championship since 1996, a program-record 27 wins and a spot in the NCAA Tournament, the team's second in three championship seasons. Six 'Swords were honored on the all-conference teams with outside hitter Brooklen Pe'a earning Player of the Year honors while Alexia Byrnes was the conference's Setter and Newcomer of the Year. Pe'a, Byrnes and libero Anna Dalla Vechhia would later be honored as AVCA All-Americans.
During the 2019 season, she helped guide the Silverswords to a record of 22-8, marking the first-ever back-to-back 20-win seasons for the program with a third-place finish in the Pacific West Conference for the second straight year at 16-6. The year saw senior outside hitter Emma Tecklenburg wrap up her stellar career second in the all-time kills list with 1,292 while junior right-side hitter Rachel Reedy became just the second AVCA All-American in school history.
During her second year with the Silverswords in 2018, she helped the squad set a school-record with 23 wins and a berth into the NCAA West Regional for the first time since 2004.
A graduate of Moanalua High School in Honolulu, Vazquez was also the associate head coach for the HI Intensity Volleyball Club in Honolulu. She was an assistant coach at University High School in Irvine, Calif., and administrative assistant at the TCA Volleyball Club in Fountain Valley, Calif., in 2008. She also worked in the athletic department at her alma mater, UC Irvine, in women's volleyball technical support from 2007 to '09 and was a summer camp leader at the school. She also coached club volleyball with the Orange County Volleyball Club (2006-08) and was a camp leader with the Balboa Bay Volleyball Club.
Vazquez was a two-time All-Big West Conference honoree at UC Irvine and helped guide the Anteaters to the school's first two NCAA Tournament berths in 2003 and '04. She was also named All-Region First Team and was an honorable mention All-American during her senior year. She departed UCI second in career block assists with 337 while her 139 BAs in 2003 is the second-most in a single-season.
Vazquez played professionally for Las Indias de Mayaguez in Puerto Rico from 2007 until her retirement in 2020. She served as team captain from 2015 to '19, winning a league title in 2013. She was the team's Most Valuable Player in her rookie season and has been selected to the All-Star Game eight times. Vazquez also played for Las Jueyeras de Guanica, a semi-pro team in Puerto Rico which captured the league title in 2013.
She also played for the Puerto Rican National Team which has participated in several NORCECA- and FIVB-sanctioned tournaments around the world. In her last year with the team in 2014, Puerto Rico finished the year as the 17th-ranked team in the FIVB World Championship rankings.
Vazquez is a 2002 alumna of Moanalua, helping guide Na Menehune to the 2001 O'ahu Interscholastic Association title.
