Whitehouse Sweeps Nacogdoches in District 16-4A Volleyball Action

WHITEHOUSE -- A steady performance with solid contributions from several players guided Whitehouse to a 25-18, 25-20, 25-23 home sweep of Nacogdoches at Wildcat Arena on Tuesday night.

Whitehouse's Angela Knight had eight kills and 14 assists, while Ashton Ates had eight kills and one block for the LadyCats, who improved to 20-12 overall and 4-2 in District 16-4A play. Whitehouse coach Britney Nordin said the win was big coming off the LadyCats' loss to John Tyler this past Friday.

"The energy the girls had, that's encouraging, too, because we have Lindale on Friday. It's good to see them come out and play hard, and Nac played hard, too, and that made it even more fun," Nordin said. "With each game I'm seeing them pull together more as a team. A lot of the things that would've been a struggle early on in the season have defnitely become more routine."

Whitehouse's Fulani Petties had five kills and three blocks, while Ronnie Fountain dished out a match-high 15 assists. Lindsey Hannah had seven kills.

Charity Page led Nacogdoches (1-5 in 16-4A) with eight kills, followed by Qymeka Jackson with five and Taylor Layton with three. Sydney Watson led Nacogdoches with 12 assists, and Morgan Farrell had five.

Whitehouse's steady performance allowed the LadyCats to gradually pull away in each of the first two matches. Whitehouse claimed a 14-11 Game 3 lead before Nacogdoches staged a 6-1 run to prompt a Whitehouse timeout, but that was one of very few moments the LadyCats didn't possess the momentum.

"These girls like to fight. I don't have to tell them in a timeout to pick it up very often," Nordin said. "Most of the time I call timeout is to break the other team's rhythm."

Whitehouse fought back to tie Nacogdoches 22-22, then got an emphatic Petties kill sandwiched between two Kaitlyn Anderson kills, the second of which ended the match.

Whitehouse closed Game 1 on an 8-3 run, and Bonnie Cotton's ace provided the game-ending point for a 25-18 victory. The LadyCats again finished strong in Game 2. A 9-4 run featuring two kills apiece from Hannah and Ates, plus three Nacogdoches service errors, pushed Whitehouse's match advantage to 2-0.

Whitehouse hosts 16-4A leader Lindale at 4:30 p.m. Friday. Jacksonville visits Nacogdoches.