Strong serving and passing lifted Newtown High School’s girls’ volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-14) win over visiting Hamden in the Class LL state tournament’s first round on November 3.

The Nighthawks, seeded ninth in the bracket, shook off some mistakes and strong play by the No. 24 Green Dragons to advance into the second round. Newtown will visit No. 8 Southington, which defeated No. 25 Bristol Central, at 6 pm on Thursday, November 6.

Newtown servers compiled 15 aces, including three each from Jamie Calandro, Tonya Tucker, and Julia Wiberg. Kyle Dandrea had 11 kills and ten digs, Clara Whaley had nine kills, Calandro had six kills and six digs, Tucker added four digs, and Alexa Reilly, who also brought her usual strong serving game to the court, contributed a trio of digs.

Solid serves by the Nighthawks put the Dragons on their heels and let to several errant returns.

“We served well today,” said Newtown Coach Tom Czaplinski, whose team was coming off a South-West Conference Tournament semifinal-round loss to Weston. “It’s definitely good to be back in the win column.”

Dandrea’s kill closed out the win in game one. The teams were neck-and-neck throughout all of the second game, with Newtown seeing three-point leads trimmed to two points, but able to sustain the advantage after taking a 5-4 lead. The Nighthawks led by as many as five points once during the game, but Hamden hung close. A Calandro kill gave Newtown a 21-18 lead and Dandrea’s kill got the three-point advantage back after the Dragons closed to within 21-19. Clinging to a 22-21 edge, the Hawks got a big kill from Dandrea, followed by a backline ace from Molly McCoy for a 24-21 cushion.  After a Newtown service error kept Hamden alive, McCoy, Newtown’s setter, fooled the Dragons when she backhanded a tap-shot over the net for the game’s final point.

In game three, the Nighthawks jumped out to an 8-2 lead, capped by a Dandrea block/kill. Down 10-3, Hamden used a 5-0 run to get to within two, but that would be as close as the Dragons would get. Highlighted by a Tucker Ace, three kills by Calandro, and a Whaley kill, Newtown used a 9-1 run to seize control. After the teams traded points, Dandrea finished things with a hard smash.