Whitehouse’s Briana Brown serves the volleyball in their game at John Tyler on Oct. 1. Brown earned the honor of All-East Texas Most Valuable Player.

MABANK — The Whitehouse LadyCats are area volleyball champions after defeating North Forney on Friday in a Class 5A playoff game at Mabank High School.

Whitehouse won 3-2 over the Lady Falcons, 25-16, 21-25, 15-25, 25-14, 15-7.

After fighting back from being down 2-1 after the third set, Whitehouse rallied to win the final two sets.

“We pushed to a small lead early in the fifth and then broke away to a 12-7 lead,” Whitehouse coach Britney Nordin said.

She added North Forney called a timeout, but when play continued Whitehouse’s Hannah Owens had a serving ace for the 13th point.

“Point 14 was earned after a long rally ended by a North Forney hitting error,” Nordin said. “Match point started off with a serve from Hannah Owens that forced them to set a back row attacker but the hit was denied by a solo block from Briana Brown to win the match.”

Some standouts for Whitehouse include Owens (2 aces), Hannah House (2 aces, 18 digs), Brown (18 kills, 14 digs, 4 blocks), Kate Idrogo (4 blocks, 12 digs), Aja Williams (2 blocks), Ryann Foster (22 assists, 15 digs) and Ashlee Taylor (18 digs).

Whitehouse (34-10), the runner-up in District 16-5A, will take on Red Oak, District 14-5A champion, in the regional quarterfinals.

Red Oak (34-10) advanced with a 3-0 win over Lindale on Friday. The Lady Hawks defeated the Lady Eagles 25-14, 25-13, 25-20.