Nighthawk Volleyball Team Falls In Quarters

By Andy Hutchison

FAIRFIELD — Newtown High School’s girls’ volleyball team, following the loss of almost all of its 2011 conference and state championship lineup to graduation, had a mostly new look this year. But the reloaded Nighthawks had the same sort of feel en route to a berth in the Class LL state tournament quarterfinals on November 13. That’s the point at which the surprising-to-many team’s run came to an end as the third-seeded Fairfield Ludlowe Falcons blanked the No. 6 Nighthawks 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-21).

“People keep telling me they’re impressed with how the girls played seeing as we graduated mostly everybody,” Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski said.

Czaplinski was pleased with the emergence of his returnees this fall, but was not so impressed with his team’s performance in the first game of the Ludlowe match. He turned to the bench in game two, but went back to the starters for the third game and that’s when they put up quite a fight. “They played fantastic in the third game. That was a good game,” Czaplinski said.

Newtown got nine digs from Courtney Escoda and five from Caroline Kelly in the loss. Meghan Logan set up her teammates with a dozen assists. It was too little too late against a tough Ludlowe team, but this was an overall impressive year for the Hawks.

The Nighthawks got to the quarterfinal round by reversing their fortunes in an elimination match decided in a winner-take-all fifth game, overcoming Amity of Woodbridge in the state tournament’s second round, at home, on Saturday, November 10.

Newtown, coming off a South-West Conference semifinal loss to Weston — a hard-fought match that went the maximum five games — pulled out a 3-2 (17-25, 25-20, 24-26, 25-18, 15-9) win over Amity in its return to the court. The Hawks had a first round state tourney bye, and hadn’t played since the tough-to-swallow Weston match on November 5.

“I think redemption’s the best word,” Czaplinski said when referring to the bounce-back effort. “It was frustrating to go out of the SWC playoffs with a tough loss.”

The Nighthawks rode their strong service game to victory. Kyle Dandrea and Escoda had six and five service aces, respectively. Escoda, in fact, reeled off three straight service points and held serve for seven points in a row to help Newtown pull away and build a 13-4 lead in the decisive game.

Lauren Frazzetta’s kill made it 12-4, and Escoda’s third ace of the stretch made it a nine-point Hawks lead. Amity pulled to within 13-9 but Dandrea’s stuff block got the Hawks to match point, and Meghan Logan’s stuff block ended it.

Amanda Rowan had 13 kills, Cassie Ekstrom compiled nine, and Sam Steimle and Kelly both added seven. Escoda and Dandrea both tallied 17 digs, and Kelly had 14. Logan racked up 45 assists.

This year the team will again lose many key seniors, as Steimle, Rowan, Escoda, Frazzetta, and Paige Kroha all graduate. But, unlike this past year, the Hawks also stand to bring back a large contingent of underclassmen who either started or saw playing time this fall.