Newtown High School Spikers Begin Season With Two Wins But Team Seeks Improvement

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ volleyball team bumped, served, and spiked its way to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-11) season-opening win over Lauralton Hall at the home gymnasium on September 11 and followed that up with a 3-2 (25-16, 17-25, 25-16, 15-25, 15-9) win over Joel Barlow on Monday.

Jordyn Good had 13 service aces and compiled 10 digs, Alex Caracciolo also had 10 digs, Megan Casey recorded 10 digs and 13 kills and Abbey Doski and Ashley Rothacker each had three assists in the win over Hall.

Good compiled 17 kills and five aces against Barlow. Casey added 11 kills and 11 digs and setter Ashley Rothacker had 23 assists and five kills.

The Nighthawks still have a lot to prove, after having lost five starters to graduation from last year’s 20-0 regular-season team, which fell one win short of the South-West Conference title last year and exited in the second round of the state tournament.

“It feels good to have a new start — and start well,” said Casey, a captain and one of the returnees from last year’s team. “We still have a lot of improvements to make — we’ll have improvements to make throughout the season like any other team. We’ll get a lot better.”

Head Coach Tom Czaplinski said, despite the 2-0 start, that there is a lot of work ahead for his squad as it looks to avenge last year’s postseason defeats.

“There’s definitely room for improvement — our passing, our defense, mainly consistency more than anything else,” the coach said.

“We’re very lucky to be 2-0,” said Czaplinski, adding that part of the reason the team has so much room for improvement is that with so many new starters, he has been shuffling the lineup while trying to find the right cohesiveness on the floor.

Of course it is only the first week of the season and this new-look squad has won its first two matches.

“We trust each other and we play well together,” Casey said.

“Everyone’s working well,” Rothacker added. “We’re going to get a lot better.”

The Nighthawks, after a clash at Bunnell on Wednesday, will get another look at Barlow (on the road on Friday) before returning home to face Bunnell Monday at 6:30 pm.