Newtown High School's girls' volleyball team, the No. 2 seed, blanked No. 3 and visiting Weston 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-13) in the South-West Conference Tournament semifinals on November 1.

With the win, the Nighthawks will compete in the championship match on Saturday, November 4 at 6 pm; the Hawks will face top seed Joel Barlow of Redding at Bethel High.

The Hawks racked up 15 aces, nine by Gabby Soltis who had three in succession to help Newtown pull away in set three. Soltis also had a trio of kills, 27 assists, and seven digs.

Liz Anesi had eight kills; Zosia Teraszkiewicz had two aces, nine kills, and nine digs; Sarah Hubner logged one ace to go along with five digs; and Allie Nowacki tallied four kills and two blocks.

Newtown seized a commanding lead in a hard-fought game two. Soltis had a pair of blocks for points as part of a 4-0 run to extend the lead to 14-8.

The Trojans hung around but Anesi had an ace for a 21-14 lead to cap a 5-1 scoring run. Teraszkiewicz placed a serve just inside the back line to bring things to set point at 24-18. Nowacki's kill off front-row contact ended the set.

In game three, things were even at five apiece when Soltis took over from the service line. She aced three in a row and an Anesi kill concluded a 7-0 run, making it 12-5.

Hubner's back corner ace and kills by Nowacki and Anesi helped NHS maintain a big lead. Sara Heinen's kill ended the match.

The Nighthawks hosted No. 7 New Milford in the quarterfinals on October 28. This was the second consecutive match between the foes who played five days earlier, to close out the regular season. In the end, it was the same outcome with the Nighthawks taking it in three sets, winning 25-13, 25-12, 25-17.

Teraszkiewicz compiled 17 kills to go along with a block and ten digs; Nowacki had eight kills; Soltis had an ace, three kills, 33 assists, and seven digs; Emily Daoust had four digs; Addy Cordova had an ace and four kills; and Anesi added an ace, three kills, and a pair of digs.

Having to face the same team twice in a short span is of no concern to a volleyball squad given that most of what shows up on the score sheet unfolds on each team’s side of the court with strong serve-receive and serving performances.

“I don’t think it matters. It just depends on us. We have to figure out our own thing,” said Anesi, who said Newtown’s serving, passing, and serve-receive game were strong in the rematch.

In game one, Newtown was clinging to a 7-6 lead when the Hawks went on a 5-0 run and eventually built a 15-7 lead. An ace by Cordova and strong hits by Teraszkiewicz and Nowacki helped Newtown pull away.

In game two, Soltis had a nicely-placed dink to tie things at 2-2, then aced a point for a lead Newtown would not relinquish. Daoust, the libero, made a diving save to keep the ball alive and Soltis played the ball off the net leading to a Heinen kill to end a long rally and give NHS an 8-5 lead. Later in the set, Nowacki dove to keep the ball in play and Teraszkiewicz ran a good five feet across the court sideline to save the ball, leading to another point as the lead grew to 16-7.

A back corner kill by Teraszkiewicz ended a 3-0 Green Wave push and the Hawks finished the game on a 9-2 run. Another diving effort by Daoust led to Cordova’s tap over the net bringing things to game point, and Cordova put NHS up two games to none with a kill into open space.

Things were back and forth much of the way into game three. A cross-court kill by Teraszkiewicz helped the Hawks turn a one-point edge into a 10-6 advantage. The Wave hung around and pulled to within 13-12 and 17-16. Freshman Cassie Pickering got into the game for a couple of plays and immediately had an impact with a dig that led to a Teraszkiewicz kill for a 17-14 lead.

After New Milford got to within one, Anesi had a kill and Teraszkiewicz had the next two. Anesi followed with an ace as the lead grew to 21-16. A block and kill by Nowacki helped push the lead to six. Nowacki ended the match with a strong kill that was deflected out of bounds.

The Nighthawks have enjoyed success throughout the fall.

“I think we’re having a lot of fun — I always have fun,” Anesi said.

Newtown has overcome injuries to key starters.

"Next person has to step up and the girls have been doing that," Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski said.