By Kim J. Harmon

It was weird – for the first 27 days of the 2001 volleyball season, things were going just great, with Newtown gathering up seven wins putting itself on real solid footing in regards to a South-West Conference and CIAC state tournament berth.

Then things were not going so great at all. The things that had gotten the Nighthawks to that first point – like team chemistry, for instance – were failing them and all of a sudden the ‘Hawks were looking at the possibility of missing the SWC and CIAC state tournaments.

“There was no communication, no volleyball going on at all,” said co-captain Anne Schneider.

But that all changed last Friday, as the Nighthawks – needing two wins in their final three matches to qualify for states – put together a thrilling 15-6, 15-7, 15-13 win over Bethel on Senior Night. The win put the ‘Hawks at 8-7 – but a 3-0 loss to Foran on Monday night now puts the onus on the ‘Hawks to defeat Lauralton Hall on Wednesday (after press time) to qualify for the states.

“We realized there were three matches left and it was time to get something done,” said co-captain Ally Gellert. “We knew we weren’t losing tonight.”

It had to be more than just the prospect of Senior Night activities that got the Nighthawks – who are not without some skill, remember – all jazzed up. But, come to think of it, it is probably as good excuse as any other.

“At the beginning of the day, I was not so sure (we would turn it around),” said Schneider – one of six seniors with Kate Anderheggen, Erin Carolan, Gellert, Shannon Kohn, and Jaime Lindquist. “But when I walked into the lobby of the school and saw the sign, GO SENIORS, that just fired me up.”

But, oddly enough, the ‘Hawks found themselves in a 4-0 hole in the early stages of Game 1. Until Anderheggen registered a block to get things started and Jenn Murphy fired off an ace to tie the game at 5-5. After Newtown took a 6-5 lead off a Bethel mistake a moment later, the ‘Hawks would trail just one more time the rest of the night en route to the easy sweep.

Once Bethel recorded an ace to trim the Newtown lead to 7-6 in Game 1, the ‘Hawks scored the next eight points (a block by Stephanie Logan and kills by Carolan, Gellert and Lindquist were the big plays) to put the game away.

In Game 2, aces by Gellert and Lindquist got the ‘Hawks started. They quickly built up a 4-0 lead, watched as Bethel climbed back into it, tying things up at 4-4, and then took off again and put the game away. Jess Phillips, playing perhaps her best match of the season, had a kill and two terrific blocks while Anderheggen had a pair of kills, Schneider had an ace, and Carolan had a strong cross court kill.

Game 3 was a bit more of a struggle. An Anderheggen block put Newtown ahead, 1-0, but points became hard to come by. With the help of an ace, Bethel took a 4-3 lead, but Schneider dinked one to get the sideout and Kristin Correa fired off two aces to get the ‘Hawks come breathing room. Phillips then registered a block and three kills and before long the ‘Hawks had a 10-5 lead.

But the Wildcats would stay in it. Even after a kill by Carolan – who was hitting the ball probably better than she had all year – helped put the ‘Hawks ahead, 14-10, the Wildcats scored three straight points to trim the lead to one, 14-13.

Then came the play of the night. On a hard service, Gellert went low to dig the ball off the floor but didn’t quite get under it, shooting a hard pass to the right side that glanced off the upper arm of Schneider, over the net and inside the line to earn the sideout.

A moment later, Schneider dinked a ball over the net and watched it rattle around a little bit before falling to the floor and handing the ‘Hawks the impressive victory. Phillips finished with eight kills and six blocks while Schneider recorded 24 assists.