Newtown High School’s boys’ volleyball team maintained its winning ways when the Nighthawks topped visiting Brookfield 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-8) in its home opener on April 17. The Nighthawks excelled in some facets of the game while continuing to show improvement in others.

“I think our serve was pretty good. Our free ball offense is starting to come together,” Head Coach Ardi Kodzodziku said.

Newtown’s passing game was also strong and set up some seemingly easy points. “Without the passing you can’t get big swings and the bounce balls we got today,” added the coach, referring to hard hits in which the ball is not returned and bounces off the court or hands of opponents and out of play.

Against Brookfield, Charlie Hanson compiled 15 kills, seven digs, and a trio of blocks; Nate Twitchell had 12 kills, three digs, and one block; and Eli Sullivan racked up 11 digs to go along with two aces. A. J. Zatulskis had three kills, Warner Bacon five kills, Max McCarthy logged three blocks, and Matt Tomaj recorded four digs and 33 assists.

After winning game one with relative ease the Nighthawks found themselves behind 5-1 to start the second set. The Hawks battled back to take a 7-6 lead only to see the Bobcats go in front 12-7 and 15-8. Newtown went on a 6-0 run highlighted by Twitchell’s cross-court, front-corner placement kill, a Hanson smash down the middle, Sullivan’s service point, and a combined effort block for a point by Zatulskis and Bacon. The Hawks were within a point at 15-14.

The teams traded points before Hanson’s block and subsequent kill off contact gave the Hawks an 18-17 lead. Hanson followed that up with another kill and Bacon scored a point to give Newtown a 20-17 lead. Brookfield trailed just 21-19 but saw the Hawks close out on a 4-0 run which included McCarthy and Bacon combining on a block and a strong serve by Tomaj which led to Zatulskis finding an opening just inside the back line to end the set.

Newtown had its way in game three, jumping out to a 9-1 lead and never looking back. Twitchell’s kill made it 3-1 and he held serve for and extended run of points aided by a pair of aces that sandwiched a service point. Hanson also had key hits during the early-set pull-away.

After the Bobcats clawed a bit to get within eight at 15-7 the Hawks finished strong with a 10-1 run. Sullivan’s ace pushed Newtown’s lead to 20-7 and Zatulskis followed with a booming hit for a point. Twitchell had two consecutive kills, the second a nicely-placed hit just inside the back line, to cap the scoring and clinch the win.

The Nighthawks, following a 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-19) home win over Xavier of Middletown on April 22, improved to 6-3 overall. Twitchell had 14 kills, 12 digs, and three blocks; Hanson had ten kills and a trio of blocks; Bacon logged four kills and five blocks; Tomaj recorded ten digs and 35 assists; Zatulskis had seven digs and four aces; and McCarthy added two digs and two kills.

Kodzodziku likes what he is seeing, especially given the players needed to make some positional adjustments. Kodzodziku noted that he has eight players who are club-level middle hitters and some have had to switch to the outside and right side hitter positions.

“It’s starting to come together. They’re running with it very well. They’re a very coachable group,” Kodzodziku said after the Brookfield match. “It’s so fun — really good group.”

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.