Whitehouse Remains Unbeaten In District 16-5A With Sweep Of Corsicana

WHITEHOUSE -- So far, so good for the Whitehouse LadyCats in District 16-5A action.

Whitehouse stormed to a two-set lead, then rallied late in the third game to finish off a 25-18, 25-15, 26-24 sweep of Corsicana on Tuesday night at Wildcat Arena.

The LadyCats (20-10) improved to 3-0 in district play by handing Corsicana (12-7, 2-1) its first league loss.

"In the first and second games I saw a lot of good things from our girls," said Whitehouse coach Britney Nordin. "In the third, it was good to see them have to fight and push. It's never fun to be in that position, but it was good to see them be able to recover from that, because it did get a little rough mentally on our side. It was good seeing them bounce back from that."

Ashton Ates led Whitehouse with 13 kills, three blocks and two aces. Setter Ronnie Fountain dished out 34 assists to go with five kills and two aces, Beth Hood racked up eight kills and four blocks, while Megan Harris and Kelly Keller collected seven kills apiece.

Fountain came up big in the decisive third game, in which she collected all five of her kills, including match point on a tip that reached a vacant spot in the Corsicana defense. She also had 10 of her 34 assists in the game, accounting for 15 of Whitehouse's 25 points in the match-clinching victory.

Corsicana scored four of the first five points in Game 3, and built a 13-9 lead before Nordin called a quick timeout.

"I think what made it hard is, early on the game, we made three straight errors," Nordin said. "That does a lot mentally to the girls, so I think that's what they were really fighting against: themselves, and coming back from those errors."

The strategy worked, as Whitehouse won eight of the next 11 points to take a 17-16 lead -- its first of the set.

But Corsicana responded with a 5-1 run to go up 21-18, and held game point at 24-23 after Carly Cates assisted on a Caroline Blitz kill.

Keller evened the game for Whitehouse with a kill, then gave the LadyCats a 25-24 advantage when her shot was able to hit the ground amid miscommunication between Corsicana defenders. That set up Fountain's tip over the net for the Whitehouse win.

"I think the girls used the timeout well to kinda get refocused and regroup," Nordin said. "We made a lot of mistakes on our side. We polished those up and tried to fix them. This group does have a lot of heart, so I knew they'd fight back. It was trying to get them to pick it back up."

Blitz led Corsicana in defeat with 11 kills, Mychellette Andrews provided solid defense with six blocks on the night, Cates registered a team-high 19 assists, and Stephanie Willingham chipped in with four kills.

Both teams' seasons resume Friday. Corsicana travels to Lindale, while Whitehouse hosts John Tyler.