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The Chaminade women’s volleyball team was awarded the West Region’s No. 1 seed in the upcoming Division II NCAA Tournament on Monday. The Silverswords will take on No. 8 seed San Francisco State in next Thursday’s opening round in San Bernardino, Calif.
The ’Swords beat the Gators in five sets in each of their past two meetings — on Sept. 8 and in 2022.
Chaminade went 29-3 in the regular season and finished as conference runner-up. The Silverswords will make their sixth all-time postseason appearance, and their first ever as the region’s top seed.
The Silverswords, ranked No. 14 in the final AVCA Division II Top 25 Poll, went 12-0 in nonconference play to earn the region’s top seed. All three of Chaminade’s losses came against PacWest opponents, including two losses to conference champion and West Region No. 6 seed Point Loma.
Head coach Kahala Kabalis Hoke has appeared in all six Chaminade appearances in the NCAA Regionals. Hoke reached the tournament as a player in 2002 and 2004, then led the Silverswords to appearances in 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023 as a coach.
In the 2022 tournament, Chaminade upset top-seeded Alaska Anchorage and No. 4 seed Cal Poly Pomona as the lowest regional seed to advance to the West Regional final before eventually falling to No. 3 Cal State Los Angeles.