Newtown High School’s girls’ volleyball team extended its winning streak to eight straight. The Nighthawks followed up a 3-0 win at Brookfield on October 4 with a 3-1 victory at New Milford two days later, then blanked visiting Bethel 3-0 on October 9 and visiting Kolbe Cathedral 3-0 on October 10.

In the win over New Fairfield, the Nighthawks came out on top 25-14, 25-8, 14-25, 25-7. Emily Daoust had six of Newtown’s 16 aces. Sara Heinen had four aces, Amaro Beard-Galati and Gabby Soltis three apiece, and Liz Anesi two. Soltis and Anesi both had seven kills, Beard-Galati logged six kills, and Addy Cordova four kills. Daoust had a team-best six digs and Cordova had five. Soltis racked up 29 assists.

Against Bethel, NHS came out on top 25-11, 25-17, 25-16. Daoust registered five of her team’s ten aces and had four digs. Anesi and Beard-Galati had nine and seven kills, respectively. Soltis tallied 33 assists.

Beard-Galati had back-to-back aces as Newtown built a commanding 14-5 lead in the first set against Bethel, then closed it out with a booming kill following a hit by Cordova that brought Newtown one point away from seizing the lead.

In game two, Beard-Galati had early consecutive hard hits as the Hawks jumped out to an early advantage. Beard-Galati, Allie Nowacki, as well as Anesi combined efforts in the middle at the net to deflect hits, block kill attempts, and put away points. Daoust, Soltis, and Noelle Meadows all came up with aces late in the second game to help put the Hawks in the driver’s seat heading to set three.

Strong hits by Heinen, a pair of Daoust aces, and combined block for a point by Meadows and Heinen helped the Hawks jump out to a commanding 8-0 cushion in the closeout set. After the teams traded points Anesi ended a long rally with a hit down the middle for a 12-3 lead. Nowacki and Heinen had kills as the Hawks countered a mini Bethel run. With things at match point, Soltis ended it with a well-placed dink over the net.

The winning ways have continued despite being without Gianna Galassi since sustaining an injury in early October. The Hawks (winners of 12 of 14 overall) have a handful of matches left on the regular-season slate.

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