Newtown High School’s girls’ volleyball team won its fourth consecutive match, each coming in the minimum three games, in a September 28 visit to Masuk of Monroe. The Nighthawks won 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-20) to improve to 4-2 overall.

In game two, with a chance to even things, Masuk jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Nighthawks battled back and went ahead by as many as eight points. Molly McCoy had a kill and Jamie Calandro’s service ace helped the Nighthawks pull away. The host Panthers pulled to within four at 21-17, but the Nighthawks didn’t let their opponents get any closer and McCoy closed out the game with a kill.

Game three was close throughout. Sarah Bender made a nice diving save to keep a ball in play as part of a solid defensive showing by the Nighthawks. Newtown trailed 5-3 before scoring four straight points, highlighted by a Kaitlyn Schneider ace and Sara Dowling kill. Masuk came back to tie the score multiple times before finally seizing a 17-16 lead. The Nighthawks quickly reclaimed the advantage with the next two points, and never fell behind again, although they had their work cut out in the remainder of the match. With the game tied at 19 apiece, the Hawks scored five straight points — on a service error, a pair of errant hits, and two Calandro kills for a 24-19 lead. After an errant Newtown hit, Calandro closed out the victory with a kill.

Calandro had six kills, six aces, and five digs; Zoe Beals added eight kills, two aces, and four digs; McCoy had four kills, 14 assists, and five digs; Julia Wiberg contributed five kills; Schneider came up with a trio of aces to go along with seven digs; Bender notched nine assists and five digs; and Tessa Leon-Gambetta compiled nine digs.

The Nighthawks defeated visiting New Fairfield 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-21) on September 25. Calandro led the way with 11 kills and seven digs; McCoy had seven assists, three aces, and two kills; and Schneider had six aces.

Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski, whose team was scheduled to visit Brookfield on September 30, is pleased with some facets of his team’s game, and sees room for improvement in others.

“I think our serving has been above average for the majority of the year,” said the coach, adding that he’d like to see improvement in both communication and the serve-receive game.

Newtown is traditionally one of the top teams in the South-West Conference, and is among the favorites to at least contend for a championship. Czaplinski is optimistic about the prospects for this squad if some strides are made.

“I think we’re still trying to find our identity. There’s moments of brilliance and moments of what is volleyball?” he said.

Between the New Fairfield and Masuk matches, the Nighthawks weren’t kicking back and relaxing — far from it. They competed in the NY-CT Invitational at John Jay High School, in Cross River, N.Y., on September 26. Newtown went 3-5 in pool play, competing against — among other teams — strong squads from New York before losing to familiar foe, SWC rival Joel Barlow of Redding in its bracket semifinals. The tourney results don’t count in the state or conference standings, and the competition can only help make the Nighthawks better, Czaplinski believes.

“You definitely get better playing against tougher competition,” he said.

The Nighthawks already have a win over Barlow to their credit, in a regular-season match. Up next, Stratford visits on Friday, October 2, for a 6:30 pm match. Newtown visits Weston on Monday, October 5, beginning at 5 pm; Weston eliminated the Nighthawks in the SWC playoffs a year ago.