For the first time since 2015, Newtown High School boys’ volleyball has a new leader on the bench. Sandy Doski, who started the program when her son Jeremy was a senior, is scaling back a bit for a career change but remains a fixture in the NHS gymnasium as the junior varsity coach while helping new hire Dan Nyitrai transition into the head coaching role.

“This is near and dear to my heart because this is what Jeremy and I started in 2015,” Doski said of why she will continue to work with the Newtown program.

“Dan has a lot of great ideas and a lot of great systems,” Doski said of the new coach, adding that Nyitrai will work to get the most out of the team.

“It’s not every day you have an opportunity to coach a varsity program, especially one that’s had the success like Newtown has,” said Nyitrai, noting that the Nighthawks were back-to-back South-West Conference champions in 2018 and ‘19. “It’s an amazing opportunity I’ve been given.”

That year the Nighthawks won their last conference title was Nyitrai’s last year playing at Trumbull High; his younger brother, Jacob, is a junior at Trumbull. Nyitrai’s past coaching experience came when he served as a volunteer assistant coach with Trumbull’s girls’ squad for a season.

Nyitrai notes that communication — both on the bench and on the court — is important in volleyball. “I prefer talking after every single point,” he added.

The Nighthawks are getting the season started with some tough competition out of the gate. Following a 3-0 loss to Ridgefield on April 3, the Hawks were scheduled to host another tough FCIAC program, Trumbull on Wednesday (after The Bee sports section went to press).

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