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Chaminade athletics is set to add two new teams to its lineup, as athletic director Dr. Tom Buning announced on Monday the addition of baseball and beach volleyball in 2023-24.
Silverwords baseball will return after a more than 40-year absence. The school had an intercollegiate baseball team in 1980, with the squad finishing 20-6 and earning a berth to the NAIA District 2 Playoffs in its inaugural season. The team was dropped to club level the following year due to budgetary restrictions, before being disbanded altogether the year after that.
There are now 11 baseball-playing members in the Pacific West Conference with the addition of Chaminade and Westmont.
The school has also offered beach volleyball as an exhibition sport since 2013, with matches against several Division I schools that have visited the islands, including Nebraska, USC and Cal. Chaminade joins Concordia Irvine as the only schools in the PacWest to field a beach volleyball team. The Silverswords will compete as an independent due to the conference not sponsoring the sport. The NCAA does not separate beach volleyball into divisions (I, II, III), so Chaminade will be eligible to compete in national championships at the same level as other high-profile programs.
Chaminade women’s indoor volleyball coach Kahala Kabalis Hoke will also serve as head coach for the beach volleyball team. The search is underway for the baseball head coach.
Baseball and beach volleyball are the first teams added by the university since men’s and women’s soccer and women’s basketball were added in 2006-07.
