After pushing visiting Joel Barlow of Redding to the brink of defeat with a thrilling game three win, only to see the Falcons convincingly win the fourth game to force a decisive battle to 15 points, Newtown High School's girls' volleyball team dug deep and came away with a hard-fought victory on September 13.

A diving Falcon got her hand on the ball when Sarah Dowling's dink sailed between the front and back rows. As the ball sailed out of bounds, the Nighthawks jumped up and down in celebration. A 15-12 victory in the winner-take-all fifth game was secured, as was a match win over the five-time South-West Conference champions.

"It's fantastic to beat a team like that," said Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski, whose team was beaten by the Falcons in last year's conference title game; the teams have met in four of the last ten title matches.

Newtown won the first game, Barlow evened things with a victory in game two, and Erin Mitchell's kill closed out a 25-23 victory in game three.

The Falcons never trailed in the fourth game en route to a 25-16 triumph. The Nighthawks returned the favor, fending off several Barlow comeback efforts in the deciding game along the way.

Czaplinski said he told his players that the team that was mentally tougher would prevail in the fifth game and was proud of the way the Hawks pulled through under pressure.

Newtown jumped out to a 5-1 lead only to see Barlow claw back and tie the score at 6-6. Rachel O'Grady's kill, followed by back-to-back Dowling service aces, spotted Newtown a 9-6 advantage. The Falcons managed to tie the score two more times. Zoe Beals tapped the ball over the net for an 11-10 lead and Newtown didn't relinquish the advantage the rest of the way.

Tess Mubarek recorded consecutive clutch aces to make it 13-10. After two straight Barlow points, a Barlow service error sent the game to match point and Dowling did the rest.

The Nighthawks were strong in the serving game, compiling 15 aces as a team. Czaplinski was pleased with his team's play in the first, third, and fifth games.

"In the games that we won our communication was fantastic and our passing was spot on," Czaplinski said. "We're going to live and die with the pass this year."

Beals finished with six aces, seven kills, three blocks, and 17 digs; Erin Burns registered five kills and a block; setter Kim Buttery logged two kills, an ace, and eight digs to go along with 34 assists; Dowling notched a pair of aces, six kills, and five digs; Mitchell compiled 11 kills; Mubarek had eight digs and four aces; and O'Grady had three digs and an ace.

The Nighthawks will host Immaculate of Danbury on Friday, September 15, beginning at 5:30 pm. They'll have a quick-turnaround rematch with the Falcons, in Redding, on Monday, September 18, also at 5:30 pm.