After years of change, HPU’s Maile Salang finds home in Hawai’i

HONOLULU – Before making her way to the islands, Maile Salang was a bit of a school nomad.

From Oregon originally, Salang graduated high school in the Philippines. She split her time between two different elementary schools, two separate middle schools and attended four different high schools before coming to Hawaii Pacific University in 2025.

The one constant for her? Volleyball.

Salang grew up watching her two older sisters dazzle across different sports, inspiring her to follow the same path. While she tried her hand at different activities, the court called to her continuously as she continued to mature.

“Volleyball was the one I stuck with all throughout,” Salang said. “I just remember it being such a different type of vibe in terms of a team sport, you know that sisterhood that you feel.”

Salang stayed in Oregon until her freshman year of high school, honing her skills with NPJ Volleyball club while continuing to find her way on the floor. While traveling around for tournaments, her dad unknowingly planted a seed that would eventually blossom for Salang years down the line.

“We were traveling for a tournament, and my dad had met Coach Jenic [Tumaneng],” Salang recalled. “[My dad] just conversated with him … It wasn’t even in a like ‘recruit my daughter’ sort of way, it was just like a ‘oh, you’re Hawaii Pacific University’s coach? My daughter plays volleyball, nice to meet you.’ [type of thing].”

Salang’s father didn’t even connect the two at the time, keeping the interaction in his back pocket for years.

As her freshman year continued, Salang remembers her dad coming home with a job offer that shook up the idea of staying stateside.

“My dad said [he] got this job opportunity to work in the  Philippines [and asked] should we go?” Salang said. “I was like, yeah, why not? I get in touch with my culture, my roots.”

Her father had grown up in the Philippines before moving to the United States at 14 years old. Now, she was getting the same experience in reverse.

Salang got the chance to connect with family members that still lived in the Philippines that she hadn’t previously met and learned more about her family history. Just as exciting for the rising star volleyball player?

 The sport was just as popular, if not even more beloved, in her new home as it was in her previous one.

She continued to improve and work at her craft, even earning the opportunity to play for the Alas Pilipinas’ U18 Women’s Volleyball National Team in 2024 before graduating from De La Salle University Senior High School in Manila, Philippines.

As her senior year started to come to a close, Salang couldn’t escape the feeling that she wanted her volleyball career to continue back in the United States.

With that in mind, her dad remembered the brief meeting with Coach Tumaneng from years prior and presented an idea to his youngest daughter.

Why not try to email Tumaneng and see if there was a chance for her to come compete at HPU for the Sharks?

“I ended up doing it,” Salang said, calling it a leap of faith. “To my positive, fortunate surprise, [Tumaneng] responded back immediately.”

The two chatted back and forth about what it could look like and, without visiting the school first, Salang committed to continue her career in the islands.

“Even just seeing [the school] through lenses of different students or what the HPU website talks about, I knew that it was a great community, obviously great location and I just thought it would be a good opportunity to take,” Salang explained.

It also presented another chance to connect deeper with her family. Salang’s mother grew up on O’ahu and grandfather worked for years in Hawai’i, leading to some family trips to the islands as she grew up.

“Even though we lived in Kaizer, Oregon, we’d visit [O’ahu] just about every year,” Salang shared. “[Hawai’i] is a familiar place for my mom especially. For her, it feels like home.”

Despite the slight familiarity with Hawai’i and the culture in the islands, Salang found her freshman year to be filled with the need to adjust.

“I knew that this change was probably going to be the biggest one yet,” she said, citing the additional challenge of tackling the independence that comes with college. “But I feel like I have such a great support system [at HPU] with my teammates, with my friends, different professors here. Overall, I just felt like the leap of faith that I took, it was worth it.”

The results on the floor have not been as smooth for the Sharks, struggling to six wins during Salang’s debut campaign and dropping some close matches during the 2026 season so far.

Despite the negative record, Salang and the rest of the HPU squad have maintained a positive perspective as the foundation sets for the future.

“The thing we talk a lot about as a team is having that growth mindset, regardless of the outcome,” the sophomore setter shared. “I think that as long as we’re working hard, as long as we’re trying our best and that we’re improving as a team, then that’s a win for us.”

More importantly, Salang said she constantly tries to live by a piece of advice that her teammate Rosie Larkin gave her.

“She always tells me to be where your feet are,” Salang explained. “Take in what you’re experiencing right now because you’re never going to be this young again. You’re never going to be in this moment again.”

Salang and the rest of the Sharks will try to continue living in the moment as they wrap the final continental road trip of the season, taking on Dominican on Wednesday, October 21 and Westmont on Friday, October 23 before returning to the islands for the final four matches of the 2026 campaign.