The Milton Red Hawks are taking a road trip to challenge the Janesville Craig Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
Milton barely beat Madison La Follette the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Red Hawks blew past the Lancers 3-0 on Thursday. The victory continues a trend for the Red Hawks in their matchups with the Lancers: they've now won nine in a row.
One reason for the win was Milton's just kept getting better, winning each set by more points than the last. The match finished with set scores of 26-24, 25-16, 25-13.
Meanwhile, Janesville Craig had already proven themselves in the regular season and they didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. Everything went their way against Beloit Memorial on Thursday as they made off with a 3-0 win. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last five times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
Not only was the match a shutout, it was a big one: Janesville Craig took every set by at least 13 points. The final score came out to 25-12, 25-9, 25-5.
Janesville Craig's win came from a few key players Milton will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Chloe Adams, who had six aces and three digs. She is also on a roll when it comes to assists, as she's now posted 14 or more in each of the last five games she's played. Another player making a difference was Ava Schaffner, who had 12 digs and three aces.
Janesville Craig was lethal from the service line and finished the match with ten aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least seven aces in four consecutive contests.
Milton's record is now 25-14. As for Janesville Craig, their record now sits at 30-6.
Milton couldn't quite get it done against Janesville Craig in their previous matchup back in August as they fell 2-0. Can the Red Hawks avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
