With their playoff hopes dangling by a thread, Stansbury volleyball could not afford a loss to rival Tooele Tuesday evening, and they played like it on the Buffaloes home court. Stansbury jumped out to huge lead in the first game en route to a 16-point victory and rolled to a 3-0 sweep.

“I thought we really came out strong in the first game and gave it to them,” said Stansbury volleyball coach Leeah Dahle. “We slowly died off near the end but we are excited to get the win we needed to move forward.”

Tooele put in more fight from the first game to the third as each game got closer but the Buffaloes still fell 9-25, 16-25 and 20-25.

“The girls put a lot of pressure on themselves to do well in this match,” said Tooele volleyball coach Kristi Brown. “As they played more in the match, they began to relax more and play their game.”

Stansbury was lead up front with solid performances from Cassidy Christiansen and Marissa Robbins earning numerous kills.

Rylee Mulitalo, Whitney Holt and Lexi Isbell all had three kills on the night for Tooele while Gabi Giles added 13 assists for the Buffaloes.

The first game started out perfect for Stansbury as they scored the first four points in the match on their way to an 8-3 lead after the serve of Alyssa Martell. The Stallion lead continued to grow after runs of five and seven points.

The two commanding runs staked Stansbury out to a 20-6 behind the serve of Erica Alvey. With the 14-point lead, Stansbury grasped the commanding lead that they would not give up and went on to win the first game 25-9.

Having the ability to grab momentum and hold on to it was Stansbury’s strength against the Buffaloes. Just like in the first game, the Stallions stacked up back to back big runs of five and six to jump out to a 13-4 lead.

The runs were fueled by the serve and net play of Christiansen and a kill from Hannah Allred. Tooele didn’t back down in the second game as they got kills from Mulitalo and Isbell to cut the Stansbury lead down to 15-10.

Points went back and forth between Tooele and Stansbury down the stretch, which favored Stansbury. With the Stallions already with the lead and closing in on a two game advantage it was the serve of Christiansen that sealed the 25-16 win for Stansbury.

Looking to get out of Tooele quickly, Stansbury was well on their way to a sweep by jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the third game with the serve of Chelsie Newberry. Tooele did however, rattle off their biggest run of the match behind the serve of Isbell. With Isbell serving, the Buffaloes ran off seven straight points to earn a 11-8 lead.

Stansbury grabbed the lead right back at 17-15 after a couple of Tooele mistakes. For the final points of the third game, Tooele and Stansbury battled back and forth and were even tied at 18-18.

Stansbury however, won seven of the following nine points, including the final four points of the match. The Stallions ended the match on an ace from Allred to win the third game 25-20.

Emotions ran high for both Tooele coaches and players on senior night.

“Since this is my first year coaching here I am really connected to this team,” Brown said. “These are girls with a lot of heart. They tried very hard this season and made leaps and bounds as we progressed as a team.”

Tooele will conclude their season on Monday at Olympus at 4:45 p.m. For Stansbury, Tooele was their final match of the regular season and have to wait and see if they make the playoffs. The Stallions can earn a trip to the playoffs if Highland beats Woods Cross tonight but if Woods Cross wins then Stansbury will have to play them in a play-in game.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com