Newtown High School’s boys’ volleyball team defeated host Brookfield 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-21) on May 10.

The Nighthawks were led by senior outside hitter Nico Diaz (six kills, three aces, seven digs, and one assist), junior outside hitter Charlie Hanson (nine kills, one ace, four digs, and one solo block), sophomore middle hitter AJ Zatulskis (four kills and three solo blocks), and senior setter Braden Hazard (13 assists and five digs).

The first set started off with both teams exchanging one or two points until the Nighthawks were able to separate to take a 16-9 lead thanks to strong serving from senior right-side hitter Ben Davis. The Nighthawks did not look back, capturing the set with a Davis kill. The back and forth battle continued into the second and the Nighthawks closed the set on a 4-0 run anchored by a Zatulskis kill and a Diaz ace.

The Bobcats pulled in front early in the third taking a 8-3 lead and maintained the advantage until the Nighthawks knotted things at 13-13. Both teams traded points until Newtown closed the door on a 7-2 run with the last three points all coming by way of Hanson kills.

Newtown hosted Oxford and fell 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-22) on May 11. The Nighthawks were led by Diaz (five kills, two aces, and eight digs), Hanson (eight kills, three total blocks, and nine digs), and senior setter Braden Hazard (ten assists and two digs).

The Nighthawks fell to visiting Shelton 3-1 (24-26, 25-14, 25-20, 25-20) on May 15. Newtown was paced by Diaz (five kills, 14 digs, one solo block, three aces, and 100 percent serve-receive), sophomore right side hitter Nate Twitchell (seven kills, three total blocks, and one ace), and Hazard (11 assists and seven digs).

The Nighthawks found themselves down 24-18 to the Gaels in the first set before storming back, led by serving from Zatulskis, to win the set 26-24. Shelton ran through the second set and stormed to a 13-8 lead in the third. Both teams fought throughout but Shelton kept the lead the entire set to go up 2-1. The Nighthawks took one-point leads in back-to-back rotations around the midpoint of the fourth set but Shelton slowly pulled away taking the set and the match.

Newtown 4-12 (4-7 in the South-West Conference), was eliminated from SWC playoff contention by Oxford and from state playoff contention by Shelton. The Nighthawks, followed by their Senior Night match Daniel Hand of Madison on Wednesday close out the season with two road matches: After a visit to Cheshire on Thursday, the Hawks visit Pomperaug of Southbury on Saturday, May 20 at 11:30 am.