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 advanced to visit top seed and familiar South-West Conference foe Joel Barlow of Redding for a quarterfinal-round matchup on June 6. Barlow won 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-8).

The Nighthawks and Barlow Falcons met four 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.

"That second set is how we should be playing all the time," Nighthawk Coach Abbi Debes said.

The Hawks prevailed in a close third set but could not maintain their momentum in the next round.

Against Rockville, McLeod racked up 16 kills and ten digs; Twitchell had nine kills, two aces, and 17 digs; Sgagliardich recorded eight kills and three blocks; Warner Bacon had five kills and a dozen digs; Zatulskis had five kills and nine digs; Kade Dearney had 14 digs and two blocks to go along with 34 assists; and Eli Sullivan added 13 digs.

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