SWC Girls’ Volleyball Championship—

Champs Again! NHS Spikers Overcome Barlow, Retain Hold On Title

By Andy Hutchison

OXFORD — With their backs up against a wall, members of the Newtown High School girls’ volleyball team showed their mettle in overcoming a tough Joel Barlow of Redding squad in the South-West Conference championship game at Oxford High on November 7. Down two games to one, Newtown forced a deciding fifth game before finishing off its second straight conference title with a 3-2 (23-25, 25-13, 23-25, 25-22, 15-9) triumph.

Top-seeded Newtown, which went undefeated in conference play and lost only one match in the regular season, had all it could handle with the No. 2 Falcons. It looked like Barlow’s night when the Falcons pulled out a pair of hard-fought, down-to-the-wire two-point nail-biters in games one and three, but the Nighthawks found a way to win the tight game when it counted most.

The Nighthawks, in fact, blanked all of their SWC opponents 3-0 in the regular campaign. They got past Barlow 3-0 and 3-1 during the season, as the Falcons were the only conference team to hand NHS a game loss within a match. They put Newtown in unfamiliar must-win territory in a back-and-forth championship match.

Newtown setter Jess Lynch earned Most Valuable Player honors, but was quick to point out that it took all of her teammates to get the job done. “It was a complete team effort. I love this team and I love that we can work together and accomplish something this great. It feels amazing,” Lynch said.

Lynch compiled 42 assists. Emma Herring was a force at the net and had 19 kills. Alyssa Finkenstadt, who along with Herring and Amanda Rowan, came up with some timely blocks, and had 11 kills and four service aces. Carly Iwanicki had nine kills and seven digs. Libero Abbey Doski piled up 25 digs to go along with four service aces. Riley Wurtz added ten digs and seven kills. It almost wasn’t enough as the Falcons seized late game-four leads of 16-14 and 17-16 before the Nighthawks rallied. “They gave us a run for our money today,” Lynch said.

Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski pointed out that the Falcons gave the Hawks fits in both regular-season clashes, despite the fact Newtown wasn’t pushed to a fifth game either time. “We were fortunate enough to come away with two victories before and the girls pulled through and came away with the big victory tonight,” the coach said.

“It feels so good ’cause we’re both really good teams and it was a really big struggle. That makes it all worth it and shows how hard we’ve been working,” Herring added.

The Nighthawks built a commanding lead early in game two and never looked back. Game three was a battle from the get-go. The Falcons kept building four- and five-point leads before the Nighthawks clawed closer, finally catching Barlow at 13-13. The Falcons went ahead again and a Herring kill evened the score at 15 apiece. Wurtz followed with a service ace when her hit went over the heads of Barlow’s back row players but landed just inside the line. The teams traded points and slim leads most of the rest of the game. Iwanicki and Finkenstadt had kills to help NHS to a 22-20 lead, but the Falcons fought back and took the lead, 23-22 on Ashley Prusak’s service ace and the Falcons finished off the win with a 5-1 run.

Newtown and Barlow again went back and forth in game four. Down 16-14, Newtown fought back to tie it. A Lynch service ace made it 18-17 Newtown, an Iwanicki kill extended the lead to two, Finkenstadt’s block resulted in another point and three-point edge and the Hawks felt the momentum shift. Another Iwanicki kill made it 21-17. Barlow ended the run, but NHS answered behind strong defensive play. After another Finkenstadt block and a nice save by Wurtz, an Iwanicki kill reclaimed the four-point advantage. Finkenstadt’s kill made it 23-18 before the Falcons scored the next three points to make things interesting. A Wurtz hit led to a 24-21 lead and, after Barlow answered with a point, Herring ended it with another one of her booming kills.

In the decisive fifth game, the teams went back and forth early on. Back-to-back Herring kills made it 6-3 NHS and, after a Barlow point, Herring tricked the Falcons with a “changeup” hit. Instead of blasting the ball over the net she dinked it into empty space for a 7-4 lead. Newtown went up 8-4, prompting a Barlow timeout. The Falcons climbed back to within one at 8-7 before a Lynch kill gave Newtown a little breathing room at 9-7. An errant Barlow hit extended the lead to three before Iwanicki and Doski both made diving plays to keep a volley going, setting up a Finkenstadt kill for an 11-7 lead. Timeout Barlow. The teams traded points before Rowan’s timely block at the net made it 14-9, pushing the Falcons to the brink of elimination. Doski ended it with a serve that was too hot to handle. The ace sparked a Newtown celebration as the Falcons walked off the floor in disappointment.

“I can’t say that the girls wanted it more because I could see on the looks of the Barlow faces how much those girls wanted it as well. Maybe it had to do with the experience ­— we have a lot of seniors on this team. They won it last year; they know what it takes — not that the Barlow girls don’t. But they were there before and they wanted to make sure they stayed there,” Czaplinski said.

Barlow has just three seniors on its roster. Newtown, conversely, has six. Wurtz, Finkenstadt, Doski, Lynch, Herring, and Iwanicki are all fourth-year students.

“I’m so proud of everyone. We played our best tonight. We never gave up and we pulled through,” Finkenstadt added.

The Nighthawks advanced to the championship match with a 3-1 win over Weston in the November 5 semifinals, following a 3-0 win over New Fairfield in the November 4 quarterfinals. Herring played through an ankle injury sustained in the Barlow title match. NHS went unbeaten until a season-ending 3-0 loss to non-confernce foe East Lyme on October 28.