A first-year varsity team that doesn’t even have prior club playing experience under its belt certainly has some catching up to do out of the gate. In the case of Newtown High School’s brand-new boys’ volleyball team, however, things are looking pretty good in their first week of competition.

An 0-3 start to the campaign is a bit deceptive since the Nighthawks have been competitive in the early going, providing a positive outlook among team members and Coach Sandy Doski. The Hawks are confident that the wins will come.

“I’m so ecstatic at the way these guys have picked up and started playing the game,” Doski said. “They’re in every point, they play with heart, and it’s just going to be a matter of time before it’s turned around on the scoreboard.”

The inaugural match was against FCIAC team Darien, which is always among the better lineups in the state. The Nighthawks lost 3-0 (25-14, 25-8, 25-10) to the Blue Wave in an April 8 home competition. Jeremy Doski had three assists, six digs, and two kills; Jake Lapp had two assists and one dig; Jeff DePinto had five digs and three kills; and Sawyer Conrad and Andy Braun played great defense for the Nighthawks.

Then came a visit to Masuk of Monroe in the first South-West Conference clash of the year, on April 10 (the Panthers reached the SWC title match and fell to Oxford a year ago). Newtown hung close in all three games, and had some leads, before falling 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-19).

Doski compiled 17 digs, five kills, and four blocks; DePinto had 13 digs, three kills, and two blocks; Conrad compiled 11 digs; Bryce Decker came up with seven kills, four digs, and four blocks; Nathyn Horvath had five digs and five service points; Robert Katrinak added five digs and one block; and Lapp registered three assists, two digs, and one block.

The Hawks noticed significant advancements from the first to second match of the season. “I think we’re improving really fast,” Doski said. “It’s a lot of fun playing with these guys.”

And Newtown’s efforts on the court made Masuk Coach Jon Mercado take notice.

“They have some athletes and once they iron out all the wrinkles they’ll definitely be a [strong] team,” Mercado said.

“They definitely put up a fight,” said Masuk player JJ Williams, whose team had to battle back from a 14-10 game three deficit to close out the win.

Newtown lost 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-11) to host Danbury, another FCIAC squad, on April 11. Doski had nine digs, seven kills, one block, and one ace; Lapp had seven assists, two kills, and five service points; and Jackson Fletcher added six digs and two kills.

After the Masuk match, Lapp commented: “I’m surprised we’re playing like we are for a first-year team. It’s fun — we have fun with it.” Lapp added that he’s hopeful that the Hawks will continue to improve to a point the program generates more interest from Newtown students over time.