Grantsville and Park City started off as a fairly even battle between two balanced volleyball teams but in all three games Tuesday night the Cowboys found a way to create some separation and went on to win in a 25-17, 25-22, 25-22 sweep of the Miners.

Kelsi Wells and Winter Johnson both had great games at the net with 10 kills and three blocks each. Chelsea Dalton had a strong game with 10 digs and three kills.

The lead went back and forth in the first game against these two evenly matched teams. A strong kill by Breanna Bunderson and a couple of Park City mistakes helped give the Cowboys a 4-3 edge early but then the Miners stormed back with a block from Laura Gutman and a kill from Courtney Hoyt to give the visiting team an 8-5 lead.

Two big runs by the Cowboys helped them take control of the first game. The serving of Lynnsey Ware and a couple of kills from Jordan Conrad gave Grantsville five consecutive points and a 10-8 lead. The Cowboys also put together six straight points with the serve of Johnson and the net play of Wells. That streak gave them a commanding 20-15 lead.

Grantsville would only let the Miners score two more points in the first game as the Cowboys ended the first with a string of five straight points that capped off with Park City not able to handle another Grantsville serve for a 25-17 first game win.

“I think we got off to a bit of a slow start,” said Grantsville head coach Heidi Heath. “I was just really impressed with the little things we did well like the clustering and the offensive talking.”

The second game started more of the same back and forth between the Miners and Cowboys. Only in this game it went on much longer as neither team could pull away.

Off of the good serve of Wells and a key kill from Dalton, the Cowboys pulled out in front of Park City 16-13. Nothing was coming easy in the second game but after a kill from Johnson and an ace from Dalton, Grantsville was nudging closer to victory in the second game at 21-17.

Park City brought the game within one point on back-to-back kills by Josie Karz that made the score 21-20. The Cowboys, however, never let the Miners grab the lead or tie the game as a kill from Ware and serve too difficult to return from Wells closed out the second game by the score of 25-22.

Looking to close out the match in three games, Grantsville quickly took control of the third game. Behind a couple of kills each from Johnson and Wells, the Cowboys shot out to a commanding 8-1 lead. The only problem was that Grantsville let the Miners chip away at the lead.

Gutman started taking over at the net for Park City and helped reel off six straight points to bring the third game within one point at 13-12. An ace by Liz Silverstein later in the game helped even the score at 16-16.

Determined to not let this match reach a fourth game, Grantsville stepped up and with an ace from Dalton, Grantsville built a slim 20-17 lead. Points flew back and forth but the Cowboys never let Park City take the outright lead as Wells softly placed a kill on the Park City side of the net to close out the match with a 25-22 third game victory.

“I have been really impressed with our blocking abilities,” Heath said. “The girls have done a really good job along the net.”

Grantsville opens up Region 11 play today at Judge Memorial at 7 p.m.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com