In a battle of two of the top teams in the South-West Conference, Newtown High School's girls' volleyball team pulled out a hard-fought 3-2 (25-14, 19-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-12) win over visiting Joel Barlow of Redding on October 21.

The Nighthawks and Falcons now each have just one loss in conference play. Newtown avenged a 3-0 loss to the Falcons in the nonconference match between the foes earlier in the season.

Newtown built an 8-0 lead in the decisive fifth game and fended off a Barlow comeback attempt to pull out the win. Sarah Dowling's kill closed out the victory.

Zoe Beals, Erin Burns, Kaitlyn Schneider, and Sarah Dowling led the way with strong hits, as well as timely blocks on the defensive side, at the net. Beals had back-to-back booming spikes assisted by setter Molly McCoy's cross-court passes to help the Nighthawks pull ahead 14-8 after the Falcons scored six of seven points to trim the Nighthawk lead to three in the fifth game.

"Barlow's been our nemesis for as long as I've been here," said Newtown captain McCoy, adding that this triumph is a confidence-booster for the Nighthawks as the regular season winds down.

"It's definitely about confidence," captain Tessa Leon-Gambetta added. "We know Barlow's the one team that's really big competition for us. The fact that we were able to come back and beat them in five is huge."

The Nighthawks had to be feeling good about themselves in the early going of this clash. The match started off about as well as it could have for the Hawks as they jumped out to leads of 4-0 and 9-1 in game one. Schneider got things going with a kill and an ace for the first two points of the match. Tess Mubarek had an ace to help Newtown build a double-digit advantage.

After the Falcons got to within seven at 18-11 Newtown called a timeout. Out of the break, McCoy's deceptive play in which she set the ball over the net into open space, and Erin Mitchell's block/kill helped the Nighthawks to a mini 3-0 run and a 21-11 lead. Beals had an ace late in game one to help the Nighthawks grab the win.

Barlow claimed victory in games two and three, overcoming an early 4-0 hole in game two and turning a 13-11 lead into a 20-13 advantage before the Nighthawks scored four in a row, highlighted by a Dowling kill, Beals ace, and Mitchell block for a point, to make things interesting. The Falcons, however, closed out the game on a 5-2 run to even the match.

Game three again saw Newtown jump out to an early lead. Back-to-back aces by Schneider and nicely placed hit on the run by Burns made it 11-1. The Falcons chipped away and claimed its first lead of the game since it was 1-0 to go in front 22-21. Down three and facing match point, the Nighthawks stayed alive with a Beals kill, but the Falcons closed the door.

In a must-win game four, the Nighthawks went on a 6-0 run for a 7-1 lead highlighted by several Beals kills and a Leon-Gambetta ace. Dowling had a block for a point and kill, and Schneider picked up another kill to help the Hawks build a ten-point lead.

As was the case in the early parts of the match, the Falcons clawed back, this time eventually getting to within just two points at 23-21. A Barlow hit into the net and Schneider ace sealed the win to force game five.

Throughout the match, both teams had strong serves, and dug hard hits to keep rallies going.

"It was just a phenomenal match to be a part of. They are an incredible team that's been on top the conference for years and we just happened to catch them off guard tonight," Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski said.

Beals had 23 kills and seven digs; McCoy compiled 43 assists, five digs, and two kills; Schneider had six aces and 18 digs; and Leon-Gambetta two aces and 16 digs.