Whitehouse Volleyball Sweeps Jacksonville To Elevate District Record Above .500

WHITEHOUSE -- The Ladycats remained in the thick of early District 16-5A positioning Tuesday with a three-set sweep of Jacksonville at Wildcat Arena.

Whitehouse's 25-10, 25-17, 25-9 victory pushed its league record to 3-2 with seven more matches remaining in the regular season. The Maidens, by contrast, fell to 0-5 within the district.

"We've been working on consistency this past week," Ladycats head coach Brittney Nordin said. "I think the girls showed a lot of consistency. We're still working on things that we need to improve. We've stayed focussed on that. They did good tonight."

Nordin's club scored 44 of the 75 points it needed to win the match on offense. Jacksonville chipped in the remaining 31 points on various unforced errors and net violations.

Junior setter Molly Harris had the best performance of the match. She recorded 29 of the team's 31 assists and added to the overall point total with five aced serves and one block.

Whitehouse scored 32 kills in the match.

Senior Brittney Taylor led Whitehouse in total point production with nine kills and one ace. Sophomore Grace Hendricks tied for the match-best kill count with nine kills.

Five other Ladycats scored at least one kill in the match.

Jacksonville put together 12 offensive points through the meeting. The remaining 24 points it scored came on Whitehouse errors.

Sydney McDaniel and Whitney Robinson both scored a team-best two kills for the Maidens. Susan Mobley and Alycia Boykin combined for seven assists.

"For a lot of the players, this is their first year of getting a lot of playing time on varsity," Nordin said of the winning side. "Getting them acclimated to the game and the speed. Seeing them adjust through those aspects has been huge. Then a lot of them are playing new positions that they're not used to with a lot of new teammates next to them. Getting the chemistry right, that's been an encouraging sign."

Whitehouse took control of the match early in the first set, upping what had been a 7-4 lead to a 14-4 advantage with seven consecutive points. Harris scored back-to-back aces in the span while sophomore Sydney Malmstrom added a kill and a block.

Jacksonville chipped in three hits that sailed out of bounds.

The Ladycats cruised to a 15-4 lead in the second set. Harris held serve for five straight points at the end of the run.

Harris, and Whitehouse at large, saved their best set for last.

The setter went off for 13 assists while the team committed a match-low six unforced errors in the third frame on the way to a 25-9 win.

Beth Hood scored the match point with an assist coming from Harris.

"Just being the setter, she's kind of our quarterback," Nordin said of Harris. "She definitely runs our offense and she's been doing a really good job."

Jacksonville will host Corsicana on Friday. Corsicana leads the district with a 5-0 record.

Whitehouse hosts Lufkin on Friday. Lufkin, which enjoyed its open date Tuesday, has a 2-3 district record and can tie Whitehouse in the standings with a win.

"We just need to stay focused on what we need to do," Nordin said. "I know they're going to be a talented team. We just have to make sure we play our game and are consistent."