Loxley Keala knows nothing is given in the pursuit of postseason glory.

It’s a lesson ‘Iolani volleyball’s do-it-all senior has learned the hard way over the past three years, and one she imparts daily to her teammates as a tri-captain and floor leader.

Every year, the Raiders find themselves in the unenviable position of battling Punahou and Kamehameha for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu’s two state tournament berths. And in each of Keala’s three previous seasons on the varsity, ‘Iolani has narrowly fallen short of unseating one of those powerhouses.

"This is our year. We have to realize that," Keala said. "It’s finally come to us and we just have to go and grab it and take it. I know all the nine seniors want to get in because we haven’t gotten in since when I was in eighth grade. … I know Punahou and Kamehameha, they think they’re going in. We’re the underdogs, and we just have to go and take it from them."

‘Iolani has turned to some unconventional means to make it happen. Keala is the centerpiece in first-year coach Kainoa Obrey’s modified 6-2 offense, a recent tweak that has the 6-footer aligning as a left-side attacker most of the time, but also has her setting for about 21⁄2 rotations. Previously this season, she operated as either a hitter or setter specifically.

The current hybrid look was possible because she’s had practice juggling the roles in previous seasons, though she is a natural setter. She’ll play that position at Missouri while on scholarship starting next year, joined by Punahou’s Carly Kan, her beach volleyball partner.

"With the change of Loxley … it gives us a better opportunity," Obrey said. "We’ve gone through a lot of different rotations, and we feel strongly about this one. We’ve seen it do some good things against pretty good competition (‘Iolani won the silver division with it at the Durango Classic in Las Vegas). So we’re hoping it can carry over."

Unfortunately for the Raiders, Friday’s three-set loss at Kamehameha — in which the visitors debuted the new offense in league play and took the first set, then fell short in the next two — meant that third-ranked ‘Iolani (5-3) is out of the running for the ILH first-round title. It will have to finish in the top two in the shorter second round that starts next week to have a shot.

‘Iolani and Keala (eight kills) bounced back in a two-set win at Mid-Pacific on Saturday. Today’s match at home against top-ranked Punahou offers a chance to improve on the recent formula. ‘Iolani is still the only team to take a set off the Buffanblu in ILH play.

Obrey credits much of the team’s success to Keala’s mantle of leadership. He saw glimmers of it when he coached her from ages 11 to 13 with the Oahu Volleyball Club.

"She was the leader at that age too," Obrey said. "Just knows so much about the game. Almost borderline too much." He laughed at that.

Her knowledge base shouldn’t come as a surprise; she loves reading in her spare time and works part-time at Barnes & Noble. This is someone who describes autobiographies as "pretty fun."

There have been plenty of give-and-take conversations with Obrey and Keala on strategy this year, and a plethora of lineup tweaks (about 15, Keala half-jokingly estimates). She embraces each new challenge, and relishes whatever aspect of the game she’s tasked to do — digging from the middle back, tooling the block, or setting up teammates Haley Robinson and Hoakalei Dawson for kills.

"I just love doing everything," she said with a laugh. "Sometimes it gets difficult, because it’s such different elements of the game. Just the mind-set is completely different. Setting is just finesse and grace. But then hitting is so explosive. Sometimes it’s challenging, and people catch me on it sometimes."

When things get tough, Loxley draws volleyball inspiration from her older sister, Logan, who played at Kamehameha and Colgate University. She’s channeled that energy to groom the Raiders’ future at setter — Keala took freshman Bailey Choy under her wing at the start of the season. Choy now sets when Keala hits.

"Everybody’s very inspired by Lox," Choy said. "She’s always there to pick us up and to always encourage us to do better. If we’re down 10 points, she’s still there to push us."

‘Iolani is still searching for that elusive state breakthrough after last winning it all under Ann Kang in 2001. But behind the floor leadership of Keala, maybe, just maybe, they’ve figured out a way — just take it.