Volleyball Falters in Season Opener

Things looked good for the Newtown girls volleyball in the first game and for the first part of the second game on Tuesday.

Newtown never trailed host Bunnell in the first game and jumped out to a 17-9 lead in the second game. But Bunnell started to pick it up after that and the Nighthawks faltered as the Bulldogs came away with a 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-15, 25-20) victory in the season-opener for both teams.

"I don't know if our nerves kicked in or if Bunnell got rid of their nerves and picked it up," said Newtown coach Tom Czaplinski. "Our serving and passing were very bad after the first game."

Nighthawks junior middle hitter Emma Herring (eight kills, five blocks) was dominant in the front row at times. The 5-9 Herring won a jump ball against Bunnell for a block to give Newtown a 24-21 lead and junior Jess Lynch's hit off a pass from classmate Carly Iwanicki forced a Bulldog error and clinched the first game for the Nighthawks.

Junior Abby Doski showed why she was First Team All-SWC last year by showing her defensive prowess with 20 digs and seven service aces. Doski opened the second game for Newtown with a service ace and helped stake the visitors to an eight-point lead by robbing Bunnell of many kills.

"Every point has nothing to do with the previous point," said Doski. "I refocus on getting the job done and doing what I can. A lot of it is having a serve that moves people out of the way. Sometimes it's luck and the ball is able to fall."

Iwanicki had a key block and Lynch (18 assists, three digs) deftly set up the offense and added a service ace. Junior Alyssa Finkenstadt added a service ace and sophomore Maddy Good served two points for the Nighthawks to build their lead to five, 12-7.

Doski added four service points, two aces, one on a jump serve, to make it 17-9. Herring had a kill to secure the final point of the rally.

"We didn't have any reason to not believe in ourselves because we played well in the first game and the first part of the second game," said Doski.

Things went downhill for Newtown after the first half. After Doski served wide to force a sideout, Bunnell junior quad-captain Janna Kmec (four kills, 13 service points, three aces) served eight straight points to give the Bulldogs an 18-17 lead. Sophomore middle hitter Erica Shannon had two straight blocks and a questionable carrying call against 

"Maybe the girls got too confident in themselves," said Czaplinski. "We started to relax with serve-receive and let the balls drop in front of us."

Doski said, "Our team has a lot of talent but we have trouble believing in ourselves. "Once we lose a few points, we lose our momentum and have trouble finding our footing."

Bunnell errors kept Newtown alive as it took a 22-20 lead on Iwanicki's service point. However, the Bulldogs closed out the game with five points, the last four on senior Annie Guglielmoni's serve. Senior Chloe Dyke (four kills, six service points, nine digs) clinched one of Gugliemoni's points with a kill.

Game 3 belonged to Bunnell and it never trailed in the final two games. The Bulldogs took a 12-9 lead before the Nighthawks tied it three times, with Herring tying it 13-13 with a kill and 16-16 with two service points, the last one coming on Finkenstadt's block.

The 5-11 Shannon's block ended the rally and Bunnell took a 17-16 lead and never looked back.

"We're much more capable of doing well as a team than we showed," Doski said. "Bunnell is a very good team and forced us out of our comfort zone. They forced us to tip it when we didn't want to. As the year goes on, we'll learn more about ourselves as a team. We need a little more time."

Czaplinski said, "We'll work on serving and passing, the two main parts of the game."

Doski showed her midseason form and if she continues to play like this, she could be an All-Stater this year. However, this isn't her top priority.

"I'm focused on getting us in the comfort zone and see how the season unfolds," she said.