Chaminade University of Honolulu

Women's Volleyball

Student-Athletes Score Awards

54 Silverswords honored with Academic Achievement Award

Nine seniors played their final game with the Silverswords Women's Soccer team.
Nine seniors played their final game with the Women’s Soccer team.

Now in its 16th year, the Division 2 Athletic Directors Association (D2 ADA) Academic Achievement Award is a program that recognizes the scholastic accomplishments of student-athletes at the Division II level. This year, a record 54 Silversword student-athletes were honored with the award, eclipsing last year’s number of 52.

“Intercollegiate athletics is an important component of the student experience at Chaminade,” says President Dr. Lynn Babington. “As a Marianist, Catholic institution, we value the development of the whole person, and athletics creates the opportunity for our students to not only excel in sports, but to learn teamwork and leadership and provide school spirit to the campus.”

To be honored with the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award, the school’s athletic director must be a current dues-paying member of the D2 ADA. Also, a student-athlete must have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale, have attended a minimum two years (four semesters) of college level work ,and have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her academic year.

Eleven Silverswords posted 4.00 grade-point averages during their time at Chaminade with two senior student-athletes—Peyton Oshiro (men’s cross country) and Hoku Schatz (women’s soccer)—wrapping up their playing careers with perfect GPAs.

In all, a record-breaking 19,646 student-athletes from across 196 NCAA Division II institutions were recognized with the award.

Isaac Amaral-Artharee ranks 11th in the all-time scoring list with 1,326 points ... second in 3-pointers made (192) ... fourth in free throw percentage (83.5; 198-of-237) ... seventh in starts (69) ... sixth in minutes played (2,842).
Isaac Amaral-Artharee ranks 11th in the all-time scoring list with 1,326 points.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our student-athletes, who earned the prestigious honor of being a D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award winner,” said Chaminade Athletic Director Tom Buning. “Having a school record number of awardees is a testament to our Silverswords dedication to excellence in the classroom and competition. This accomplishment is even more noteworthy when considering that travel for the PacWest Conference competition requires extended absences from class.”

Of the more than 1,100 NCAA member universities and colleges, about 300 classify their athletics programs in Division II.
 
Division II is all about balance. Students participate in highly competitive athletics, have the best access ratio to NCAA championships of any division and can earn athletics scholarships, but their college experience includes so much more than sports participation. The balanced approach in athletics, academics and community engagement allows Division II student-athletes to focus on their academic pursuits, internships, studies abroad and all that interests them.
 
Among the most distinguishing features in Division II is its athletics scholarship model, which awards partial scholarships that students combine with academic or need-based grants to construct their financial aid package. Division II believes it is important to acknowledge and financially reward students’ athletics abilities. This partial scholarship model keeps athletics budgets more closely proportioned with the total institutional budget.

The following Silversword student-athletes were recipients of the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award (listed by sport):

Men’s Basketball
Isaac Amaral-Artharee
Scott Ator
Dorian Harris
Kameron Ng
Braden Olsen
Patrick Renane
Kobe Young
 
Women’s basketball
Olivia Crigler
Mia Ming
Emma Morris
 
Men’s Cross Country
Elijah Bernardo-Flores
Peyton Oshiro
Peter Jan Ramos
Josiah Rodrigues
 
Women’s Cross Country
Leila-Jayne Casison
Montserrat Lanfranco
Eri Leong
Ashley Yoshikawa
 
Men’s Golf
Kal O’Brien
Schuyler Peterson
 
Men’s Soccer
Kekoa Kuloloia
Kaulana Navares
Daniel Villalva
Brandon Yasue
 
Women’s Soccer
Lece Aviles
Gracie Bowers
Ruby Burroughs
Caili Cain
Gracie Knowd
Jenna McLean
Kira Nishiki
Dayna Nishimura
Hoku Schatz
Clara Slate-Liu
Kyla Takazono
Nicole Vontsolos
 
Women’s Softball
Kobe Brown
Taryn Fujioka
Kailah Gates-Coyaso
Taylor Genera
Haley Hayakawa
Bailey Jacobsen
Kieren Lopez
Chasity McKean
Cheyne Obara
Keolani Takemura
 
Women’s Tennis
Sydney Danielson
Emily Ramirez Miranda
 
Women’s Volleyball
Alexia Byrnes
Sasha Colombo
Greta Corti
Brooklen Pe’a
Kaybrie Pe’a
Sophie Schilling
 

A Record Year for Women’s Volleyball

If you want to win, you’ve got to work for it.

Chaminade women’s volleyball embraced that mantra this year — and it paid off.

Chaminade University's Women's Volleyball team 2021 in a huddle after a good play

The team wrapped up a wildly successful season after grabbing its first AVCA Division II Coaches Poll ranking since 2005, clinching its first PacWest title in a quarter century and going all the way to the NCAA Region West Division II tournament to end the year with a 27-6 record. 

“We didn’t want another season of a talented team falling short of goals,” said Head Coach Kahala Kabalis Hoke. “We knew that this year, we had to think differently if we wanted a different result. So the thought was that we will work for what we want. We will not expect anything to be given to us.”

Hoke said the team “embodied this culture” from day one.

Their motto: Huli ka lima i lalo or “turn the hand down.”

The saying encourages hard work (working the soil with hands down) to cultivate success, Kabalis Hoke said, over expecting things to be given to you (holding hands up to others). “The thought was we didn’t want to have our hands facing up, asking for anything to be given to us,” Kabalis Hoke said.

“We wanted to turn our hands down and work the aina.”

“I knew this team was different,” Kabalis Hoke added. “They were hungry to put in the work they needed to achieve success. They were committed to the process. They understood that there were sacrifices needed and our team leaders set a great example of work ethic and training with intention.”

The team started the season on solid footing and were picked second in the PacWest poll.

In mid-September, the Silverswords debuted at no. 21 in the AVCA Division II Coaches Poll. It was an incredibly strong showing for the team, which had previously been unranked for nearly 16 years. The Silverswords would then go on to beat the No. 11-ranked Metropolitan State University of Denver.

The season’s wins would only continue, including with their first-ever sweep of Azusa Pacific.

Chaminade University's Women's Volleyball team 2021

And then in November, a win 25 years in the making: the team captured their first Pacific West Conference title since 1996 and snagged a berth in the NCAA West Region tournament. While their subsequent fall to Central Washington was a bittersweet end to their eight-match winning streak and magical season, Kabalis Hoke is still immensely proud — and rightly so — of all her team achieved.

“This season was filled with highs and lows, from season-ending injuries to navigating COVID. We understand how blessed we are to achieve this result and we know it did not come easy and without a cost,” she said, noting the team clinched the highest regional seed (at no. 3) in Chaminade history.

Kabalis Hoke, who received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Chaminade, is in her 10th year as the team’s head coach. While an undergraduate at Chaminade, Kabalis Hoke was an All-PacWest First Team selection in 2003 and 2004 and ranked as a PacWest leader in kills, digs and service aces.

Kabalis Hoke said it’s been exciting to see women’s volleyball and athletics at Chaminade grow over the last decade, including with big investments in facilities and the student-athlete experience. “We have really been able to break new competitive ground as a program while unlocking new recruiting potential,” she said. “With each year of hard work and dedication these athletes and coaches put into the program, we level up. Every person who has stepped into our program either on or off the court has made a significant difference and helped us to represent Chaminade in the best way possible.”

In addition to all the wins this season, Kabalis Hoke and her team are celebrating plenty of recognition:

  • In early October, middle blocker Lataisia Saulala was named a PacWest Player of the Week following her standout performance against Dominican University and Holy Names University.
  • Saulala also clinched  the PacWest Defender of the Week title the following month. 
  • In post-season, Brooklen Pea was named PacWest Player of the Year.
  • Setter Alexia Byrnes earned the PacWest Setter and Newcomer of the Year awards.
  • Pea, Byrnes and Anna Dalla Vecchia were named to the All-PacWest First Team.
  • The All-PacWest Second Team included Greta Corti, Kyra McCain, and Saulala.
  • Additionally, Pea and Byrnes were named to All West Region first teams.

Kabalis Hoke also ended the season with high honors. She was named both the PacWest and AVCA Division II West Region Coach of the Year. She said all the praise is appreciated, but she — and her team — are already looking ahead to next year and what they hope is an even stronger season.

“Knowing that we will have the bulk of this team return with a fire lit makes for an exciting thought for 2022,” Kabalis Hoke  said. “Huli ka lima i lalo is what we did for the conference championship and now that we’ve raised the bar, we will huli ka lima i lalo for a regional and national championship.”