Chaminade volleyball ends season on a winning note

What a turnaround.

The Chaminade Lady Swords defeated BYU-Hawaii on Nov. 21 25-21, 25-17, 26-24 on senior night honoring Sunica Bakic, Reigna Johnson, Keani Passi, and Brenda Walker. The Lady Swords also defeated the Hawaii Pacific Sharks in five sets after being down two sets to one on Nov. 22.

This win against the Seasiders is the first for the Lady Swords since Nov. 6, 2009 when the Lady Swords won 3-2. Since 2007, in 19 matches against BYU-Hawaii, the Lady Swords were a paltry 2-17, 16 of those losses were by a three set sweep. The Lady Sword’s (19-9, 12-8 PacWest) win marked the first time since 2004 that they’ve swept the Seasiders; the 2004 team included current head coach Kahala Kabalis-Hoke.

“I still think we could’ve accomplished a lot more but I’m very proud that we are able to have these accolades,” Kabalis-Hoke said. “The difference here is that mindset, like I said we knew previous rankings for (BYU-Hawaii) doesn’t matter we’re a great and we’re capable of so much.”

Senior libero Brenda Walker led the team with 14 digs on the night bringing her season total to 459.

“Every year we try our best to do what we could,” Walker said. “This year we took it in a different aspect, knowing the weapons that we had and knowing how to utilize it so we worked more with our team chemistry this year. I think we made a big step being that I was here four years in a row. The team chemistry and the energy that we had on the court felt different from the past years.”

Senior outside hitter Keani Passi led the match with 22 kills on the night with a .487 hitting percentage.

Senior middle blocker Reigna Johnson did not play in the match due to an ankle injury.

“Overall, a ton of ups and downs between injuries and problems,” Johnson said of her overall performance this season. “I’m very impressed with everything that went down. We didn’t come out where we wanted to be and there was a lot of obstacles that got in the way. But overall I’m very proud of where we ended.”

The Lady Swords led the Seasiders in kills (42-33), digs (40-35), hitting percentage (.273-.147), and assists (40-31).

Seasider sophomore Leilani Adolpho had nine kills.

The Lady Swords setters were busy with Sophomore Natasha Enos and Freshman Skyler Curry with 36 total assists between them.

The Swords continued their 2015 legacy with an epic finish against HPU winning 3-2 at St. Andrews priory.

The victory against the Sharks came down to the wire with both teams tied in the fifth set at 13-13. Johnson, playing in her first game since Nov. 7, put the Swords ahead with her 96th kill of the season followed by Sophomore outside hitter Kira Long drilling home aloha ball to end the most successful season in Lady Swords volleyball history since 2007.

This season saw many firsts for the Lady Swords, the biggest was finishing the season with a winning record for the first time since 2007 (15-7), having a PacWest player of the week (Passi won it twice), and ending the long losing streaks against HPU and BYU-Hawaii.