Striving for an impactful encore to last season’s South-West Conference championship run, Newtown High School’s boys’ volleyball team has its sights set on not only repeating as conference champs but also claiming bragging rights at the state level as well.

It doesn’t stand to be easy. Newtown lost seven players to graduation, but Coach Sandy Doski likes her pool of talent as the Nighthawks enter into uncharted NHS boys’ volleyball territory, looking to defend its crown. Last year’s was the program’s first conference championship in its fourth year of existence.

“The goals we have for this year are to win the SWCs and get to the finals of states and preferably win,” Doski said. “In order to accomplish these goals, we have to get the new players up to speed on the varsity level. They need to anticipate better and react faster to plays than the speed at the JV level. We all need to work together as one unit and gel and not have six individual players on the court at one time. All players need to get lots of touches on the ball and know their position on the court so they are comfortable playing the ball.”

Newtown went 17-0 in the regular season and posted an overall mark of 20-1, including the SWC title run, capped by a victory over Joel Barlow of Redding in the title game and a run to the Class L state playoff semifinals, where NHS fell to Ridgefield.

Captains are Ardi Kodzodziku, Robbie Morrill, and Keenan Murphy. Returning players include Danny Schreiber, Eric Moore, and Zach Marks. New members of varsity are Max Wrage, James Belden, Rick Irving, and Robert DiSibio.

There stands to be tough competition from each of the SWC’s teams: Joel Barlow of Redding, Masuk of Monroe, Oxford, and Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport.

“Since there are only five teams in the SWC, all of them are going to be tough. We are not taking anyone for granted. Barlow, Masuk, Oxford, and Kolbe all have great players and great coaches, so we will have to see what happens,” Doski said.

Given the size of the conference, there are several out-of-SWC matches, and the Nighthawks will take on tough teams from the FCIAC, including Darien (season opener, on the road Saturday, March 30, at noon), Danbury (home opener in the first of two matchups between the schools, Monday, April 1, at 6 pm), and Trumbull. NHS will also take on teams from other leagues, including from the Southern Connecticut Conference: Shelton, Xavier of Middletown, Cheshire, Amity of Woodbridge, and Daniel Hand of Madison. Another opponent is Central Connecticut Conference team Lewis Mills of Burlington.

“The strength of my team is the knowledge of the game that these kids have. They are all smart players and not just power hitters. They can see the whole court, read the defense well, and put the ball where there is an open spot for us to score a point. We have a tight group of boys who all really enjoy playing and want to learn more and get better. When one person is having a bad day, the others rally around him to pick him up or pick up the slack so we don’t miss a beat on the court. Sometimes that is hard to find in a group,” Doski said.

“I’m very excited to see what this group of guys can accomplish this year. We have great talent on this team; I have a great coaching staff to help me, and it is going to be a very fun year. Everyone we play will be out to get us because of last year, and if we just play our game, we will not have any pressure on us. The other teams have the pressure to beat us,” the coach added.