Newtown High School's boys' volleyball team, the No. 8 seed in the Class M bracket, defeated No. 8 and visiting Rockville 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-22) in the state tourney opener on June 4.

With the win the Nighthawks will visit top seed and familiar South-West Conference foe Joel Barlow of Redding for a quarterfinal-round matchup Friday, June 6 at 6 pm.

The Nighthawks and Barlow Falcons have already met three times this spring, splitting a pair of regular-season contests along the way. Barlow then defeated Newtown in the SWC playoffs.

In their match against Rockville the Nighthawks overcame an early 4-0 deficit out of the gate, seized a 5-4 lead, then went back and forth with their opposition for nearly the entirety of the first set. Neither team led by more than two points until the Hawks finished on a 5-0 run highlighted by kills from Nate Twitchell and A.J. Zatulskis, and an ace from Eli Sullivan to close it out.

Newtown pulled away in set two with Cole Sgagliardich recording some key blocks at the net. There was also an impressive defensive series featuring a play by Twitchell and diving save by Sullivan setting up a Noel McLeod kill.

The Hawks prevailed in a close third set and will look to carry this momentum into the next round.