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Silina Damuni, a former Kamehameha Schools Maui student, will play college volleyball at Brigham Young University. Courtesy of Damuni family

Silina Damuni was only an 11-year-old Kamehameha Schools Maui student when her whole family relocated to Utah.

The move seems to have opened many doors for Damuni, now a junior at Timpview High School, who recently verbally committed to Brigham Young University to join the Division I women’s volleyball team in 2023.

“Of course we miss Maui, that’s our home, but moving to Utah has been one of the biggest blessings for our family because we’ve had so many opportunities up here,” Damuni said via phone on Tuesday afternoon before a volleyball match.

By the end of her sophomore season, Damuni had developed into a two-time all-state volleyball setter and is now preparing to help the T-Birds defend their Class 5A state volleyball title in two weeks.

Though she still has the remainder of this year and all of her senior year left of high school, Damuni is already looking forward to being an NCAA D-I student-athlete for a “super competitive program” as well as being on a campus where the culture and religion matches her lifestyle.

Additionally, after seeing how well some nurses and medical staff cared for her grandma during an injury, Damuni said it “inspired me” to pursue an education in nursing after she graduates from Timpview.

“I’m so excited. It’s always been a dream of mine to play for Brigham Young University, so to be able to say that I’m going to be going to that school in just a few years, it’s a dream come true,” she said. “It’s just a good feeling.”

Choosing to play for the Cougars was an easy decision for Damuni, the youngest of four siblings, because there’s a lot of family history and pride with going to that school.

Her brother, Raider, is a football commit currently serving an LDS church mission; the other brother, Dayson, recently graduated from BYU; and her dad, Jack, is the BYU Executive Director of On-Campus Recruiting and Community/Player Relations for the football program.

Both parents are also BYU graduates.

“When I say I’m going to BYU, it makes me feel good because there’s a special place for it in my heart, ever since I was a little girl,” Silina Damuni said.

* Dakota Grossman is at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

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