The talented squad is preparing for round two of MIL competition.

LAHAINA – The sport of volleyball is pretty much a family tradition in the Ganer household in Lahaina. Be it the club circuit or up at Lahainaluna High School, the Ganers are on the floor inside the lines as players or now in leadership roles as coaches and promoters of the game here on the West Side.

Trixy Ganer has spent most of her life involved in the sport – for years as a participant and then assisting her parents, Hano and Charmaine Ganer, and then in coaching and mentoring the youth in Lahaina.

Most recently, Trixy has assumed the leadership role of the Lady Luna team after spending almost a decade as an assistant to her dad and then moving up into the head coaching position beginning last year.

“Yeah, our whole family has been involved in volleyball for as long as I can remember. Mom as the do everything supporter, dad as the coach, and all of us kids – brother Cody and sisters Davelyn, Ashely and Taylor -playing the game,” explained Trixy last week from just outside the steaming Jimmie H. Greig Gymnasium on the Lahainaluna campus.

“Now, mom and dad are still backing the program and my siblings are playing.”

Coach Trixy, this year assisted by junior varsity coaches Hano Ganer, Bula Mahiai and Raymond Tadeo, as well as Joe Keanini, Janice Phillips and BJ Laititi, continued to say that the current Lady Luna team is loaded with talented athletes and, after a bumpy start to the Maui Interscholastic League 2015 season, seem to be putting it together to improve upon last season’s 1-11 record.

“We need to find more focus and get over this mental block we have to finish games. We need to build confidence and not be intimidated. We have the athletes and we’re physically ready – now we need to strengthen the mental side. There is plenty of potential on this team, and we can use the first round as a learning curve going into the second round,” she said.

Tri-captains Minaoka Criste, Julia Bianco and Ashley Ganer lead the way for the 2015 Lady Lunas, along with seniors Haylee Patch, August Guest and Caylyn Villatora, and juniors Keolani Hill and Maygan Patch. Rounding out the roster are sophomores Shay-lea Samiu, Kaitlin Hodgins and Shelia Aina-Manrique, and first-year player Nicole Torno.

Lahainaluna will compete with a tough MIL Division I lineup that includes Baldwin, Kamehameha Schools Maui, King Kekaulike and Maui High in a three-round schedule that culminates with the postseason tournament at Seabury Hall on Oct. 21-22, which will determine the two representatives to the state tournament on Oahu on Nov. 4-7.

“My thanks goes out to the coaches, the community, the parents, and to my mom – who does everything for us – and to my daughter, Kuumomi, who inspires me every day to keep pushing on, for all the support given to the program. It is such an awesome community, and we’re hoping to establish a club program for Lahaina to further promote the sport on the West Side,” concluded Coach Trixy.