MILFORD — It was the kind of match that Milford boys’ volleyball coach Andrew Mainini felt like his team would have lost a year ago. But his Scarlet Hawks are a year wiser and a year more experienced.

That paid off in a massive way on Thursday in an intersectional battle against Lexington.

Yes, the Scarlet Hawks posted 25-21, 25-21 and 28-26 wins to sweep the match with the Minutemen but it was his team’s ability to come through in the clutch that made Mainini smile.

“If we had this kind of game a year ago, it might have been reversed because Lexington was the more experienced team and we were the younger group,” Mainini said. “Now we’re the experienced team and it’s paying off.”

When things got a little off the rails at times for the Scarlet Hawks in this one, their dynamic middle hitting duo of Ryan Franklin and Joey Newman were there to steady the ship.

“Those two are so big and take up a lot of space at the net,” Mainini said. “We were looking at stats compared to last season and one of our biggest improvements is in blocking.”

Milford dominated much of game one and looked like it was going to breeze to a win, leading 21-11. But after a timeout, Lexington finally got its offense revved up thanks to solid hitting and blocking from Ale Lucianni and Nick Sanchez DeRojas.

The Minutemen cut the lead to 24-21 before outside hitter Alex Guerra put the first set away for Milford. It wouldn’t be the last time he’d come through in a tough spot for the Scarlet Hawks.

Game two was more like what was expected between the two teams as they traded runs in a game where the biggest lead was four points on either side.

Lexington used an 8-2 run to take control and looked like they were ready to even things up when it led 21-20. But the Scarlet Hawks responded with the last five points of the set, capped by a Gus Da Silva ace to take a two game lead.

Game three also was a pins and needle affair as Lexington led most of the way before Milford put together a 7-3 spurt to tie it at 18 as the teams were just getting warmed up.

Lexington had a chance to serve for the set at 24-22 but Guerra kept Milford alive. Newman followed with a net cord ace and Guerra had another kill to get the Scarlet Hawks to match point. Lexington, however, fought it off and then did it a second time after another Guerra spike. But the third time wasn’t lucky for the Mustangs as Franklin put away the clinching point.