The Dexter Bearcats played a solid first set and rallied late in the second to sweep Bernie 25-15, 25-21 in an SCAA volleyball match Thursday night at the Bearcat Events Center.
The Bearcats took a 7-1 lead in the first set and stretched that advantage of as many as 11 points.
"Our first set, I feel like we controlled the net," Dexter coach Starla Pulley said. "We talked a lot about high hands, blocking and pressing hard. I felt like they did that. They worked the net really well. We kind of shut their offense down a little bit because we were present at the net."
Pulley commended her team's defense and serve-receive, too.
The Bearcats (3-3, 3-0 SCAA) used a 5-1 run to stretch their lead to 12-4 and a 6-1 surge to set up match point at 24-13.
Madison Wooldridge's kill and a passing error by Dexter sliced the Mules' deficit to 24-15, but the Bearcats clinched the set with a kill.
"We didn't get off to a very good start the first set," Bernie coach Jason Long said. "We just struggled with some things. They got off to a pretty good start, played well and really kind of handled us pretty easy the first set."
The Mules (5-4-2, 2-2) showed some fight in the second set, scoring the first seven points behind two kills by Kelsey Spitzer, one kill by Taylor Anthony and two aces by Ryleigh Foster.
"We came back the second set. We fought hard. We played well," Long said. "We can build on that."
Pulley said that her girls came out flat in the second set.
"Seven errors pretty much in a row, you just can't do that when you play a good team. Bernie's a good solid team," Pulley said. "I felt like the communication and energy wasn't there the second set. We've talked a lot about that. That's something that we're continuously working on."
The Bearcats played four games in four days this week.
"Four straight games is a lot. That second set, I think they all looked a little tired maybe," Pulley said, "but that's still no excuse. You've still got to come out and still got to play hard and do what's expected."
Dexter responded with a 5-0 run keyed by a kill and a block by Maycie Martin, a kill by Natalie Sitze, a block by Alexa Werneck and an ace by Shelby Bishop.
The Mules maintained the lead until Dexter tied the set at 19 on a hitting error by Bernie and at 20 on a kill by Blair Rogers.
"Bernie did a good job of mixing it up that second set," Pulley said. "They started playing the short game, and our girls had to adjust to that. But once we kind of got adjusted and started getting our rhythm back, we were able to push through and do what we needed to do."
Rogers' kill ignited a 6-1 match-closing run that featured blocks by Bailey Chamberlain and Werneck. Another kill by Rogers clinched the victory for the Bearcats.
"I was proud of them because with a 7-0 deficit, it's hard to come back and win those games," Pulley said. "They fought back every point."
The Mules are a work in progress, according to Long.
"We've been up and down in some areas, but the one thing we are doing is we're continually coming to work everyday. We're continually working hard," Long said. "We're going to stay together, and we're going to be a lot better four or five weeks down the road if we continue to do those things."
Werneck finished with a team-high six kills. Chloe Thurmon paced the Bearcats with three blocks. Dulcie Pullen had a team-high 13 assists, and Sitze tallied a club-best seven digs.
Rogers added four kills and six digs, and Martin had four kills and two blocks.
No Bernie statistics were available.