Newington Volleyball Suffers First Loss, Quickly Rebounds with Convincing Victory

Newington's Jordan Aprea

The Newington boys’ volleyball team suffered their first loss of the season, dropping a heartbreaker to the visiting Cheshire Rams. The two heavyweights battled to an epic five set match in which Newington took the first and third sets (25-17, 25-17) and lost the second and fourth sets (25-17, 25-23). Cheshire preserved the victory by winning the fifth and final set, 15-11. The loss was the first blemish for the well-rounded Indians, who had won their first eleven games this season, including a victory over Cheshire on April 23rd.  

Cheshire, now 9-2, was led by the senior tandem of Trent Hager and Greg Zane. Hager doled out 42 assists and had six blocks. Zane added 10 blocks and eight kills in the victory.   

Despite the loss, Newington’s captain Jordan Aprea had another dominant performance. The junior outside hitter had 18 kills, 15 digs, and five aces. His five aces equaled the total amount of aces that he had registered through the first eleven games this season.

Aprea followed up his stellar game versus Cheshire with an equally impressive outing the following night as the Indians easily disposed of the Hand Tigers in straight sets (25-9, 25-19, 25-12). Seniors Long Du and Riley McManus filled up the stat sheet to helped Newington shake off their first loss. Du tallied 12 assists and had a season-high 8 digs. McManus added 14 assist and a season-high 4 aces.        

​Newington has five more tune-up matches left before the tournament starts in early June. One of those contests will be a home date against rival Glastonbury on Wednesday, May 21st. Newington beat their conference foes in five sets earlier in May and another victory would almost assure a division crown for the Indians. Action starts at 5 p.m. at Richard Rogalski Gymnasium inside Newington High School.  

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