University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Family First: Louisiana Volleyball’s Siena DeCambra
10/9/2023 11:00:00 AM | Volleyball, Louisiana UnLimited
NEW ORLEANS - Family has always been the most important thing in Siena DeCambra's life.
For Louisiana volleyball's junior setter, that includes both her family in Hawaii and the bonds she has formed with her teammates and coaches in Lafayette.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and coming of age in Maui, DeCambra grew up playing softball but joined her high school volleyball team as a freshman, following in the footsteps of her sister, Yala, who went on to play collegiately at Hawaii Pacific University. She also had a cousin, Keala Kaio-Perez, who played volleyball at Alaska-Anchorage.
"I just thought I would try out and see how it went from there," DeCambra said. "It was just the love of the game. I did love playing softball too, but I think I just kind of grew out of that and started loving volleyball more."
Her sister was a big influence on DeCambra when she was preparing to make the transition to collegiate volleyball.
"My sister helped me a lot with recruiting and how things are going to be," she said. "She has been a really big help throughout my entire life."
When DeCambra's Hawaiian Style Volleyball Club teammate Lyric Love went to Odessa College to play for its then-head coach Kristi Gray, DeCambra was intrigued.
"She had been telling me about Odessa and what it was like," DeCambra said. "I talked to G at the Hawaii Volleyball Combine and just started talking to her from there on out. I liked the college and I loved her."
As a freshman at Odessa, DeCambra was part of a 6-2 offensive attack, helping lead the Wranglers to a sixth-place finish at the 2021 NJCAA Division I Volleyball Championship. At the end of the season, Gray was named the head volleyball coach at Louisiana.
"When I heard about G's job offer here and that she wasn't going to be at Odessa anymore, I heard that she needed a setter to come into Louisiana," DeCambra said. "I talked to her and asked if I could have an offer to come here with her. I wanted to do it right away, no question about it. I really wanted to come here with her."
In Lafayette, DeCambra is more than 4,000 miles away from home. But thanks to her coaches and teammates, she feels she has found a second home with the Ragin Cajuns.
"At some points, it can be hard, just because when you sometimes go through tough times, you kind of want to rely on your family, but what we have here and what I've had at Odessa is just that – family. That has really helped a lot."
The family environment that she feels within her team was never more important to DeCambra than earlier this season when wildfires ravaged parts of her Maui, affecting many of her friends back home.
"I have a lot of friends in Maui and some of them are from Lahaina where it started," DeCambra said. "It was just really hard hearing about it and seeing how much it affected all of them. Being over here and not being able to help or do anything is really hard. Everyone asked me how I was and I told them I was feeling a little down but I still wanted to be here and to play and practice. They let me know that anytime I needed a break or a day to myself, I could have that."
DeCambra, now in her third season in Acadiana, has flourished at Louisiana. She currently ranks 15th in the nation in total assists with 532 and is the top-40 nationally in assists per set with 10.23. But she's quick to credit others for her success.
"The coaches have really been helping me every day in practice on how to be better every day," she said. "My passers are really working hard to get the ball up so I can set it to the hitters and the hitters are doing a good job of putting it down to make me look good."
As DeCambra continues to play a key role in Louisiana volleyball's upward trajectory, it will always be about the relationships for her.
"To me, I think family isn't just blood relatives," she said. "It can also be my teammates, coaches and staff here. When you build those strong relationships, it can lead to trust and love. I think that really helps in everything."
