It’s probably been a hectic couple of weeks around the Choy household.
In his first season coaching the Farrington girls volleyball team, Barney Choy led the Governors to the OIA Division II title while his daughter, ‘Iolani senior Bailey Choy, helped the Raiders capture their first ILH championship since 2001 last week.
The Division I and II state tournament schedules separated them this week, but they’ll finish the season in the same arena on Saturday.
Farrington will play in the D-II third-place match against Seabury Hall scheduled for 2 p.m. at Blaisdell Arena. About five hours later, Bailey Choy will take the floor for the D-I final between ‘Iolani and Kamehameha.
“It didn’t even hit me when we both won the (league) championships,” Bailey Choy said Friday. “But it hit me … when we were both playing in states. It’s overwhelming.”
Bailey helped ‘Iolani reach the Division I for the first time since 2007 with 53 assists and eight kills in the Raiders’ 25-23, 25-14, 22-25, 25-18 win over Kahuku on Friday in a semifinal match at McKinley.
Meanwhile at Kaimuki, Le Jardin ended Farrington’s title bid with a 25-18, 23-25, 25-12, 25-15 win in the D-II semifinals.
While leading ‘Iolani to its deepest state tournament run since 2007, Bailey also savored Farrington’s success this season.
“I think it’s so exciting because my dad and I, we’ve been together so much, we’ve come a long way,” said Bailey, who has committed to Utah. “Him, my mom, my brother, they’ve been helping me throughout the process to get a scholarship and it’s just amazing we get to share this.”
Bailey and Barney both had 5 p.m. semifinal matches on Friday and the younger Choy’s all-around performance helped ‘Iolani advance.
Along with running an offense that had three hitters with double-figure kill totals, Choy had 17 digs and helped the Raiders’ recapture momentum early in the fourth set with two kills in a 7-1 ‘Iolani run.
“Great job. She runs down a bunch of tough passes all the time and she betters it and gets it hittable for our players and we tend to take good swings,” ‘Iolani coach Kainoa Obrey said. “She’s big for us. She’s all over the court.”
Senior outside hitter Moea Kekauoha was Choy’s go-to hitter for much of the night and finished with a match-high 20 kills. Sierra Buscher had 15 and Tatiana Calimpong-Burke added 14 while hitting .455 in the middle.
“It defintely means a lot because we worked very hard this year,” Kekauoha said. “We had yoga, we went into the weight room at school and started lifting, we had two three-hour practices every day. So it was a lot work but it was worth it … because it got us to this point.”
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