69����

“Looking at them, I don’t think their record shows how good they can be,” Milton coach Katie Kinman said. “They’ve been very competitive with some really high level teams within their conference and throughout.”

The Lancers’ two conference wins came against Madison West (3-0) and Janesville Parker (3-2). They’ve also been swept five times in league play.

“I don’t think that this is a team we can just flash by,” Kinman said. “They have some good swings and some decent servers. So we’ll have to be ready with our serve receive game and making sure that we can keep them out of system as much as possible.”

The mental game will be key for Milton. Having energy and staying focused are two things Kinman said the team will focus on.

“Our team is going to continue to work on our energy,” Kinman said. “And staying high and keeping our mental game strong; not letting ourselves hang heads when mistakes are made when moving on from those quickly; and being there for our team.”

If the Red Hawks take down the Lancers, No. 3 Janesville Craig would be the next matchup. Milton lost twice to the Cougars (2-1 and 2-0).

“We’re going into the postseason at a high right now,” Kinman said. “We’re definitely playing some of our best volleyball that we have been. We’ve really been working on collaborating as a team and coming together to mesh all of the different roles. I feel like we’re at a really healthy spot going into the postseason.”