By Thomas Jones, Sports Editor

Sara Shaw hammered and sliced through the Cedar Park defense for all three games in Westlake’s sweep, but her most important kill came more from a shrug than a swing.

With her team trailing 22-21 in the first game, Shaw tried to get her hands under a point-blank shot from Cedar Park’s Sydney Adair but instead deflected the ball with her right bicep. The ball popped over the head of Adair and landed just in for the tying point.

The Chaps (20-7) then closed out the first game with three more points, which essentially closed out Cedar Park’s chances of pulling of an upset as Westlake ended its nondistrict slate with a 25-22, 25-12, 25-17 win Tuesday at Westlake High School.

The Timberwolves fell to 14-7.

Shaw ended the contest with 18 kills, but that key point in the first game had her chuckling after the match.

“It was a complete accident,” she said. “The ball hit me up high on the arm, and I don’t know how that when in.”

The next two games had little drama as Westlake trimmed its errors and cruised to the win. Eight of the Chaps’ 17 combined hitting and serving errors came in the first frame, but Coach Al Bennett cited the team’s defense as the key to overcoming those miscues.

“We picked it up defensively and played with some intensity,” he said. “And then we stopped making mistakes. When we stop making mistakes, we’re a hard team to beat.”

Abby Howden fired nine kills for Westlake, and Elly Barrett dished out 24 assists and blocked three shots. Bennett played Barrett and Shaw throughout the match, which allowed some of the reserve players such as Erin Bula and Katie Sorenson to get ample playing time alongside the starters.

“We wanted to get some other players into the game, but we also wanted to keep our rhythm,” Bennett said.

Adair and Sierra Null paced Cedar Park with five kills each.