Silverswords take three PacWest end-of-the-year superlatives, five first-team spots

PacWest Communications

2024 Pacific West Conference volleyball champion Chaminade won the league title with a perfect 20-0 record, thus it would figure that they would display prominently on the all-conference team.

On the list voted on by the conference’s coaches, the Silverswords won half of the six special awards and had five players on the All-PacWest Conference First Team. Point Loma, whose only loss all season was to Chaminade, had two special award winners, three First Team selections, and two Second Team honorees.

Chaminade head coach Kahala Kabalis Hoke is the Coach of the Year, having directed her team to the conference title, CUH’s third in the last four years. In her 13^th season at Chaminade, her team will head into next week’s NCAA tournament with a 27-4 record, marking their fifth postseason appearance since 2018. Chaminade’s perfect run through the conference was the first for a PacWest team since 2017. They have now won 26 straight PacWest contests, dating back to October of 2023.

The 2024 Player of the Year is from Point Loma. Abigail Nua. The junior outside hitter and three-time First Team All-PacWest selection led the conference in kills per set (4.06) and points per set (4.70), both by a significant margin. She was consistent throughout the season, putting up double figure kill totals in 20 matches and 12 times had double figure dig numbers. That all came despite the fact that the Sea Lions had 19 three-set sweeps in their 26 matches.

The Setter of the Year is Chaminade’s Grace Talpash. Talpash moved into the starting setter’s role this season and averaged 9.37 assists per set, with season bests against Hawaii Hilo twice with 54 and 51 assists. The former D-I player (Oklahoma and San Francisco) also had 31 service aces and 221 digs while running the high powered Silversword offense. Talpash also had 11-multi block games this year, and is just the third Silversword so have over 1,000 assists in a season (1,087).

The Libero of the Year is Azusa Pacific’s Mia Medrano. Just a sophomore, Medrano finished second in the conference in digs per set (4.63), and had a season-best of 37 digs against Western Oregon. She zipped in five service aces against Vanguard, and in her first season as a Cougar had at least 18 digs or more in 15 of APU’s matches. Medrano, who played her freshman season at CS Dominguez Hills, had 20 service aces and 76 assists.

Chaminade’s Anna Stucchi was voted the Newcomer of the Year. Stucchi, a 5-11 senior middle blocker, previously played three seasons at Division I Santa Clara. The Italian led the PacWest in hitting percentage at .441, with that total also listing third best in Division II. Twice this season she had 20 kills in a match with a sizzling .529 hitting percentage. Against Azusa Pacific, Stucchi had 11 kills in 12 attempts without an error. She is second on the Silversword team with at least 10 kills in a match 18 times.

The Freshman of the Year award is shared by Fresno Pacific’s Makayla Smith and Point Loma’s Saren Rogers. Smith started for a Sunbird team that finished third in the conference after being predicted to land in ninth place in the preseason poll. The Fresno product, an outside hitter, finished the year eighth in the conference in kills per set (3.07) and was tenth in points (3.49). She has a season best of 20 kills against Menlo. Rogers, also a hometown product from San Diego, moved into the starting line-up and is second on the Sea Lion team with 2.89 kills per set. She had a .251 hitting percentage and had a season best of 18 kills against Northwest Nazarene. The outside hitter finished with double figure kill totals in 12 of PLNU’s matches.

In addition to Nua, it was also the third All-PacWest selection for Point Loma’s Anna Massari, a senior middle blocker. It was the second all-conference honor for Chaminade’s Lizanyela Lopez, also a middle. The rest of the First Team was all new—Chaminade’s Talpash, Letizia Cammillucci and Mahala Ka`apuni, Fresno Pacific’s Mia Gilcrest and Cambria Waites, Concordia’s Kayden Croy, Point Loma’s Sophia Baugh and Azusa Pacific’s Anya Green.

On the Second Team, Hawai`i Hilo’s Tani Hoke and Taylor Tullo are repeat all-conference members, as is Dominican’s Rein Bocage, who was an All-PacWest selection while at Holy Names in 2022.