Newtown High School’s girls’ volleyball team followed up a hard-fought loss with a pair of victories.

The Nighthawks had an exciting contest at Masuk of Monroe on September 18. The Nighthawks and Panthers went extra points in the first two sets with Newtown prevailing in both before Masuk won the next three to take the match 3-2 (24-26, 28-30, 25-20, 25-20, 15-9).

In set number two the teams alternated getting things to match point but the score was repeatedly tied. Newtown finally ended it with the necessary two-point advantage capped by Allie Nowacki’s hard hit down the middle.

In the third set Masuk withstood a 6-0 Newtown run, highlighted by a pair of Nowacki service points, that got the Hawks to within 21-20. In the fourth set, Masuk had 6-0 and 7-0 runs to force the decisive set. In the fifth, Newtown trailed 7-4 before consecutive Gianna Galassi kills pulled Newtown to within a point, the second of which was scored following a couple of nice defensive efforts, digs by Addy Cordova and Sarah Hubner. The Panthers, however, finished the match with an 8-3 run.

The Nighthawks racked up 14 aces led by six from Galassi and five from Lauren Murphy. Emily Daoust had five digs; Galassi added seven kills and a pair of digs; Sara Heinen had four kills; Lombardo accumulated 23 assists; Noelle Meadows had an ace, three kills, two blocks, and two digs; Lauren Murphy had five kills, a block, and three digs; and Cordova registered two aces, one kill, and two digs.

Newtown hosted Weston on September 20 and prevailed 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-16). Aces were hard to come by with only five in this match, but the Nighthawks put away points in game play with 33 kills. Galassi had a dozen kills to go along with a block and six digs; Heinen had seven kills; Hubner had an ace, three kills and six digs; Lombardo registered an ace, 33 kills, and a trio of digs; and Nowacki had an ace, ten kills, and four blocks.

The Nighthawks beat host Pomperaug of Southbury 3-1 (25-16, 25-16, 23-25, 25-18) on September 23. The Nighthawks accumulated 14 aces. Daoust had four aces and ten digs; Galassi had two aces, five kills, and seven digs; Heinen registered seven kills and a pair of blocks; Nowacki had three aces, 11 kills, two blocks, and a dig; Cordova had three aces and a trio of digs; Lombardo compiled 38 assists; Meadows had four kills; and Murphy recorded six kills.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.