DANBURY — A back-and-forth match between the top two teams in the South-West Conference came down to the fifth set. Top seed Joel Barlow of Redding rallied to defeat No. 2 Newtown High School in the October 29 SWC Championship match at Western Connecticut State University.

Barlow prevailed 3-2 (20-25, 25-16, 25-23, 23-25, 15-13). The Nighthawks were beaten by Barlow in three sets during the regular season, providing an example of how far along the Nighthawks have come this fall.

The Barlow Falcons went ahead two games to one by pulling out a hard-fought third set which featured nine ties.

Newtown forced the decisive set by prevailing in a nail-biting fourth set which featured a dozen ties.

Lauren Murphy's kill brought set four to match point and an errant hit by the Falcons sent things to the fifth.

The Nighthawks used a 6-0 run to seize a 7-3 lead in the fifth set only to see the Falcons reel off the next six points for a 9-7 lead. Sara Heinen twice had kills to pull the Hawks to within a point before an Ava Lombardo ace tied things at 11 apiece. NHS went ahead 13-12 when Addy Cordova's serve wasn't handled. The Falcons scored for the fifth tie of the set, went ahead on an ace, and closed things out with a kill.

All told there were 31 ties and 18 lead exchanges in this match.

"The girls never gave up and that's all you can ask for as a coach," Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski said.

In previous matches in which the Hawks fell behind they might not have clawed back.

"It shows how much we've grown as a team this season," Gianna Galassi said.

"We never gave up," Emily Daoust added.

Dauost had three aces and seven digs; Galassi racked up a dozen kills and seven digs of her own; Heinen had 11 kills; Allie Nowacki registered six kills, a pair of aces, and four blocks; Cordova logged four digs; Sarah Hubner had an ace a trio of digs; Lombard had an ace, three kills, and 43 assists; Murphy had four kills and a dig; and Cassie Pickering had six kills.