Breaking up is always hard to do. But sometimes putting the pieces back together creates something even stronger.

It’s what is happening this season with Hawaii beach volleyball players Laurel Weaver and Carly Kan. The two had other partners last year and were extremely successful, Weaver 30-4 with Emily Maglio at Flight 3, Kan 31-5 with Ari Homayun at either Flight 4 or 5.

But the sport at the collegiate level is as much a chess match as it is a chemistry class. It’s about who plays best at what flight, finding the right combination of a left-side and right-side player, choosing between teaming a “big” with a “small” or go with two in-betweeners.

Something clicked when the 5-foot-11 Weaver and 5-9 Kan paired up. Both now graduate students, they had similar backgrounds and mind-sets — transferring from other schools to make Hawaii home for their two seasons of eligibility.

Weaver, a beach transfer from UCLA, and Kan, a Punahou graduate who had an All-American indoor career at Missouri, are 20-10 for the No. 3 Rainbow Wahine (28-3) heading into the senior celebration this weekend at the Ching Complex. The pair has helped the SandBows to a school-record 23-match winning streak, a “pretty dang close to a dream season that we’re not done with yet,” Weaver said.

“The dream will be determined by the last couple of weekends. As Carly and I say after every set, whether we win or lose, ‘Stay hungry.’ That’s our mentality that we want to take into the last three weekends playing together.”

After a gauntlet of ranked opponents — Hawaii is 16-3 against teams currently ranked in the top 16 — UH hosts a double round-robin event with no ranked foe. Boise State (1-6) and Arizona State (10-13), which is receiving votes, open play Saturday at 1 p.m.

It’s the final Ching Complex appearance for seniors Weaver, Kan, Ka‘iwi Schucht, Hannah Zalopany, and Allyssah Fitterer, all of whom will be honored after Sunday’s finale against Boise State. Hawaii will then host the Big West tournament April 27-29 at Queen’s Beach and, barring a major upset, will be at the May 4-6 NCAA championship in Gulf Shores, Ala.

The SandBows finished third nationally last year and “I didn’t know what to expect for this season,” Kan said. “We all had high hopes and I still think we can win the national championships.

“We talk about ‘Championship Sunday’ and every Sunday tournament we’ve had, we make sure we’re showing up. My expectations are being met and more. I never imagined that I’d be at (Flight) 1. I’m grateful to be playing.”

Kan has the unique perspective having played at all five flights in her brief career. She came in with little beach background, but set single-season program records for dual wins (31) and consecutive victories (14) last season with Homayun.

This year, Weaver-Kan were at Flight 1 for the first nine matches and 12 of the first 13. They were 6-6 there, 4-3 at Flight 2 and are 10-1 in their last 11, all at Flight 3.

“From the moment they started to play together, they were electric,” Hawaii coach Jeff Hall said. “It’s been really neat to see how they’ve galvanized their partnership. They started crushing everyone in our box. They never give up on a play, win 90 percent of their rallies because of their effort and energy.

“I still think they’re a No. 1 pairing. It’s that they have a couple of pairs ahead of them who are on their own team.”

The juggled lineup has seen Maglio-Schucht (28-3) win a school-record 19 straight, going 19-0 after moving to Flight 1, and Morgan Martin-Lea Monkhouse (27-3) go 10-0 at Flight 2. Also riding a winning streak of 17 in a row is the Flight 4 pair of Homayun-Amy Ozee.