Newtown High School’s girls’ volleyball team saw its strong season come to an end in a second-round Class LL state tournament match on November 6. The Nighthawks fell to host Southington 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-18).

The eighth-seeded Knights earned a berth with top-seeded and defending champion Cheshire in the quarterfinals. No. 9 Newtown, which won its state tourney opener, finished the campaign with a 16-6 overall record. NHS was 14-4 in the regular season and won its South-West Conference tournament opener before losing in the semifinals. Southington went 15-4 in the regular season.

With a chance to even the match against Southington, Newtown got off to a great start in game two, as Kyle Dandrea’s kill spotted the visitors a 7-1 lead. Southington used a 13-1 run to pull ahead 14-8 and never looked back. The Knights jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game three and cruised to victory.

Newtown had several kill attempts blocked as Southington’s height, positioning, and timing at the net prevailed.

The Nighthawks got eight kills from Dandrea, and four kills each from Clara Whaley and Jamie Calandro. Sarah Bender had 13 assists as setter Molly McCoy, battling an injury, was limited in playing time. Calandro had seven digs, Tessa Leon-Gambetta had seven digs, Tonya Tucker added five digs, and Whaley chipped in with a trio of digs. Newtown’s serving game produced six aces, including two from Calandro.

Read more about the match and season in the November 14 print edition of The Bee.