Newtown High Spikers Earn Tourney’s Top Seed, Aim For Success

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ volleyball team posted a 16-3 overall record earned the top seed in the South-West Conference Tournament, which got underway on November 1.

Newtown defeated No. 8 Stratford 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-15) at Reed Intermediate School to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals against No. 5 Weston (after The Bee sports section went to press).

Newtown got 24 assists and 11 digs from Jess Lynch; six service aces and two kills from Emma Herring, 16 digs, three aces, and two kills from Abbey Doski; ten kills from Amanda Rowan, 12 digs and five kills from Carly Iwanicki; nine digs and four kills from Alyssa Finkenstadt; and 12 digs and six kills from Riley Wurtz.

Newtown earned the right to face Weston, a team it knocked off in four games in early October. It just so happens that Weston was scheduled to host the semis, giving the Trojans home court advantage.

With a win, Newtown would face the winner of No. 2 Joel Barlow of Redding and No. 3 Bunnell of Stratford — also teams the Hawks have beaten this fall.

Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski thought his team entered the quarterfinal round match with a little too much confidence, leading to the Hawks being flat-footed in the early going. Once Newtown got on its game, the team reeled off points in bunches.

In the third and clinching game, Newtown fell behind 7-4 before accumulating the next 11 unanswered points to seize a 15-7 advantage.

“When we’re playing as well as we can — which we’ve done a couple of times this year — I don’t think there’s any team that we can’t play with. I think we’re capable of winning SWCs but, again, we need to play to the top of our ability,” Czaplinski said.

The Nighthawks had a big late-season win over Bunnell of Stratford, which enabled them to earn the top seed. It also have the Hawks plenty of reason to believe they can get to the SWC final, and prevail.

“I think it gave the girls some confidence,” said Czaplinski, whose Hawks had lost to Bunnell 3-1 in the season-opener back on September 14.

In the rematch, on October 27, Newtown won a thriller 3-2 (25-16, 25-20, 22-25, 17-25, 18-16). Herring had 11 kills, five aces and three blocks in that win. Doski kept the ball in play with 29 digs and added three kills, and Lynch set up her teammates with 24 assists and added a dozen digs.

“Once we beat them I think we felt we could beat anyone — but not in a cocky way,” said Finkenstadt, adding that she knows the Nighthawks will have to work hard for wins in the postseason.

Of course, as far as the SWC is concerned, the Hawks have beaten everybody they faced, including Barlow twice, as they handed the Falcons their only two losses.

With a win in the semis, Newtown would challenge for the SWC title on Saturday, November 6, at Bethel High. Win or lose in the SWC playoffs, the Nighthawks will also have a shot at a state title this fall.

“This team is capable of anything when we’re playing at our best,” Finkenstadt said.