Robert E. Lee's Mallory Kuechle celebrates after a kill against Whitehouse on Tuesday. (Christopher R. Vinn | Tyler Morning Telegraph)

WHITEHOUSE — Robert E. Lee volleyball dominated from the service line en route to a 3-0 win over Whitehouse on Tuesday at Wildcat Arena.

The Lady Raiders totaled 11 aces in the three games to win, 25-14, 25-15, 25-19. The victory raised REL (5-4) above .500 for the first time this season while dropping the LadyCats to 5-2.

REL junior Mallory Kuechle paced the offense with 11 kills while notching three service aces. Senior Rachel Johnson tallied five kills and one solo block while Kalloway Hudson filled up the stat sheet with nine assists, three kills, two aces and one block. Junior setter Melissa Menard finished with 11 assists and an ace and Ashley Jovanovich had two service aces.

“We came out here with confidence and the (girls) played well and I couldn’t ask for more,” REL coach Melissa Lee said. “We got the momentum (early) and I think that carried us the rest of the way.”

Whitehouse entered the game on the heels of a close loss to defending 2A state champion White Oak, but 23 unforced errors and six missed serves proved too much for the Lady Cats to overcome.

Whitehouse spread the offense around in the loss with four players — Kenzie Patterson, J.J. Williams, Torrie Maae and Blakely Braughton — notching five kills apiece while Erica Jordan led the team with six kills. Angela Knight had 11 assists with Madison Melrose finishing with six helpers.

“We were definitely battling ourselves a lot,” Whitehouse coach Britney Nordin said. “We like playing Lee because they are always a strong team and it’s nice to challenge ourselves. I did see some good things, but I also saw some things we need to work on.”

The teams were close in Game 1 until Hudson went back to serve at 9-9. Hudson proceeded to win the next seven points, highlighted by an ace from Hudson and a solo block by Johnston to give REL a 16-9 advantage. Whitehouse pulled to within four points, 16-12, but couldn’t draw any closer.

In Game 2, thanks to Lee’s rotation, Hudson began the game behind the service line. The junior picked up where she left off, with five straight service points to put REL in command. The LadyCats battled back to within two points, 7-5, but Kuechle’s seven-straight service points ended any more comeback thoughts.

In Game 3, the teams were tied at 16-16 before Menard went back to serve. She won the next seven points enabling REL to complete the sweep.

“That tournament we played in last weekend really helped us with our confidence,” Lee said. “Going down there and beating some of those teams carried over to today.”

Lee will be on the road against Forney at 6 p.m. Friday at Forney High School while Whitehouse is set to play a dual against Troup and White Oak at 6 p.m. Thursday at Troup High School.

RAIDER RAP: Lee’s JV team defeated Whitehouse (22-25, 25-12, 25-21) in three games while both freshman teams lost. Lee Red was beaten 25-20, 20-25, 25-10 and Lee White was topped 25-22, 25-15.