The Westlake Thunder and American Fork Cavemen volleyball teams embarked on a rollercoaster ride at the Westlake gym on Tuesday night, but in the end the ball fell Westlake’s way as the Thunder defeated American Fork in five thrilling games, 25-22, 21-25, 17-25, 25-22, 15-11.

“We’re working on finishing off games and finishing off matches. We didn’t finish off every game, but we did finish off the match. We made our hearts race, but we executed at the end,” said Westlake coach Wayne Wood, who took over coaching duties in late July for former coach Kayla Walker, who took an opportunity to play volleyball in Finland.

It was definitely an early season match for both teams, which each showed flashes of brilliance on the heels of myriad nervous errors. But in the end, the Thunder just had fewer errors and a few more strikes of lightning go their way.

“American Fork was a fun team to play. It was a good measuring stick for us because they’ve played well in the preseason,” Wood said after the match. He’s been out of the prep volleyball merry-go-round for years now and is just now trying to re-famliarize himself with the Utah County volleyball landscape.

Westlake came out strong in Game 1 and finished it off 25-22, but then the Thunder fell apart a bit while the Cavemen struck gold in the next two games.

Game 2 belonged to American Fork early as the Cavemen took the 7-5 lead, but the Thunder weren’t out of it, scoring the next four points and taking the 9-7 lead. From there it was an up-and-down battle until the Cavemen took the lead 14-13 on a Westlake service error, not giving up the lead from there.

Game 3 sported six ties after Westlake took the early advantage, but American Fork took control after a Westlake hitting error and a kill by Kelsey Leetham, shooting out from a 10-10 tie and walking away with it 25-17.

“Leetham play out of her mind for them tonight,” Wood noted of the American Fork player.

But her impressive performance wasn’t enough as the Thunder came out in Game 4 and evened the match at two games apiece. The Thunder led most of the way after the Cavemen took the 1-0 lead. There were three ties after that, but no lead changes on the way. Three consecutive kills by Westlake’s McKenzie Weaver, Anela Hansen and Tianna Naylor finished the game off with style.

Game 5 started with three ties, but then the Thunder took charge on a service ace by Amanda Campbell, and never looked back.

“Our libero (Courtney Kamauoha) really stepped it up and executed digs well, which is her responsibility, and Shianne Pace played aggressive all the way through and never let up,” Wood said.

Anela Hansen led the Thunder with 11 kills. Maddy Sanders, Ellie Rosdahl and Hannah Lind all stepped up for the Cavemen in the loss.