Newtown High School’s girls’ volleyball team won three of four matches October 7-14, beating Pomperaug of Southbury and Bunnell of Stratford each in five games, falling to Woodstock Academy in three, and blanking Bethel in three.

In an October 7 home match with Pomperaug, the Nighthawks prevailed 3-2 (18-25, 25-18, 25-18, 20-25, 15-13) to improve to 6-4 overall. In the process, the Nighthawks handed the Panthers just their second loss in 11 matches. In their next match, two days later, the Nighthawks continued their five-game and winning ways with a 3-2 (17-25, 25-20, 23-25, 26-24, 15-8) victory at Bunnell of Stratford.

Against Pomperaug, Newtown’s serving game, led by a team-high ten aces by Jamie Calandro, was a difference-maker in the outcome. Calandro also had 20 kills and 18 digs. Tessa Leon-Gambetta compiled 24 digs; and Sarah Bender had 15 assists to go along with five kills and ten digs.

Even in the first-game setback, the Nighthawks proved they were going to put up a fight in this match. Calandro, Zoe Beals, and Molly McCoy all had diving efforts to keep the ball in play, but some miscommunication on balls hit into space, coupled with Pomperaug’s strong play, led to the Panthers jumping out to the early lead.

In game two, the Nighthawks bounced back nicely. Back-to-back Calandro aces led to a 10-5 NHS advantage. One Newtown point later, and in a six-point hole, the Panthers called timeout. The Nighthawks continued their momentum, however, capped by a Calandro kill for a 17-7 lead, before Pomperaug reeled off six unanswered points. The teams traded points much of the rest of the way, and Julia Wiberg came up with some key spikes at the net, and a McCoy ace helped the Hawks put the game away.

The Nighthawks seized an early commanding lead in game three and led — comfortably for the most part — throughout. The Panthers trimmed a five-point deficit to just two, but could get no closer. Beals had consecutive aces for an 18-8 lead. Erin Burns and Calandro provided clean kills and hard hits the Panthers couldn’t return. After the Panthers forced a decisive fifth game, the Nighthawks pulled out a hard-fought fifth game that, like the match on the whole, went down to the wire. It ended when Bender setter dumped the ball over the net for the decisive point.

Against Bunnell, the Nighthawks overcame a 20-12 game-four deficit to force a decisive fifth game en route to edging the host Bulldogs. Beals had nine service aces to go along with six kills, and 18 digs; McCoy had 16 assists, seven kills, and 13 digs; Calandro compiled 11 kills and 17 digs; Bender registered 11 assists; Leon-Gambetta compiled 22 digs; and Kaitlyn Schneider added 11 digs. It was a team effort as Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski got 13 players onto the court during the match.

Beals set the tone for the second game with four aces in succession to stake the Hawks to an early lead. Newtown went up by as many as eight points before the Bulldogs pulled to within a point at 21-20. Calandro’s kill, which changed direction off the top of the net, and a diving save by Casey Muckell, which led to a Beals kill, made it 23-20, and the Hawks were on their way to evening the match.

After the Bulldogs prevailed in a back-and-forth game three, they appeared poised to close the door in game four. Down by eight, the Nighthawks surged back with 11 unanswered points for a 23-21 lead behind the serving of Beals. McCoy’s kill knotted the score, and back-to-back service points, the second being an ace, from Beals, made it 22-20. After the teams traded points, Bunnell got even at 23 apiece before Calandro’s diving dig went for a kill when the ball sailed over the net and landed just inside the boundary line. Another Bunnell point tied it, but another Calandro save kept the ball in play and led to the go-ahead point, and Schneider ended it when the Bulldogs couldn’t return her hit.

“I think it was amazing how our team came together,” McCoy said of the game-four rally.

Game five was close until Newtown turned a 6-5 lead into an 11-5 advantage. Kills by Calandro, Muckell, and Beals, and some errant hits by Bunnell, helped Newtown pull away, and Calandro ended it with a kill.

As for going to the decisive fifth game two matches in a row, “It’s stressful. I think sometimes we lose focus,” McCoy said.

“Bunnell played fantastic. I think we were just coming off the high of beating Pomperaug in five — we made a lot of errors,” Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski added. “We’ve been working a lot on becoming a mentally tougher team and we’re starting to get it.

“We’re a young team. I think we’re starting to figure out a little bit about ourselves,” Czaplinski said.

Newtown traveled to Woodstock Academy for a challenging nonconference match on October 12, and lost 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 25-20). Calandro had five aces and eight kills, Schneider had ten digs, and Beals added three aces and five kills. Czaplinski said his team played relatively well, and he’s looking for his squad to maintain a high level of intensity and get to the level of volleyball in which it is capable of playing.

Newtown got back into the win column in its return to conference play, with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-17) win over the visiting Bethel Wildcats, on October 14. Calandro had seven digs and five kills, Beals had nine kills, four aces, and seven digs, and Leon-Gambetta had 14 digs.

Newtown (8-5 overall) will host Immaculate of Danbury on Friday, October 16, starting at 6:30 pm.