BERNIE -- Bernie asserted itself from the start Tuesday night and took off from there.
The Lady Mules jumped nine points ahead of Malden in the first game and cruised to a straight-set win, 25-9, 25-16.
"We did get off on the right foot but when everyone is playing like we are supposed to, that is supposed to be how it is supposed to go," Bernie coach Stephanie Reynolds said.
Chelsea Wagner led the way for Bernie (16-5) with five kills while Tori Lowrey had three kills and seven digs. Katie Baker had 14 assists and five digs while Paige Mays had 15 digs.
Erica Joiner led Malden with two kills while Sarah Bukich had one along with a team-high six blocks. Taylor Miller had 22 digs and Aubree Harris had two assists in the loss.
"It is kind of a rivalry game for us, traditionally, Bernie has been a pretty good program," Malden coach Jon Smith said. "We are on the up swing but we are not quite there yet.
"The intimidation factor plays a part in it, we kind of got caught up in all that."
Bernie jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first game and after Malden got a point from a service error, Bernie scored another five straight points to take a 10-1 lead, three of those coming on aces from Carissa Cluck.
"I told the girls at the beginning of the game that we needed some warriors," Smith said. "We needed somebody that was going to stand up and battle a little bit.
"We didn't have that."
After two straight from the Lady Wave, Ellen Snider got a kill for Bernie to make it 11-3.
"I like for the girls to be aggressive," Reynolds said.
Later in the first game, Bernie was up 15-5 when it scored four straight to widen its lead. Wagner got a kill and followed it with three straight aces.
After two points from the Lady Wave, Bernie went on a 6-2 run to win the first game as the final point came from Cluck on an ace.
The second game started similarly with Bernie getting off to a 4-0 lead with two of those points coming from Cluck aces.
"We are having a hard time staying low, we are constantly preaching to stay low," Smith said. "To be real honest, we haven't played a team of that caliber in a while.
"You get a little lazy sometimes."
However, Malden battled back to get four of the next five points and got within one at 5-4 after an ace from Bukich.
"The second game was much better," Smith said. "I got on them a little bit in between and said 'look, don't lay down.'
"We came out a little better and a little sharper, I think the hype from the beginning had worn off a little bit."
Wagner said after the large disparity in the first game, her team got a bit complacent.
"The second set, we kind of let loose a little bit," Wagner said. "We kind of let them get some points they shouldn't have gotten."
The game stayed close until Bernie reeled off four straight points to take a 15-9 lead.
Reynolds said her team has been working on getting more consistent.
"We have got to work on (not letting up)" Reynolds said. "We have been trying to work on that for a while."
After two points from the Lady Wave got them within four, the Lady Mules got seven of the next eight points to take a 22-12 lead. Three of those points came from kills in the front.
"We are really cutting around the block," Wagner said. "They only had one person blocking this game,
"There was no double block or anything so we could cut around easily and that helped us."
Malden got four of the next six points but one more from the Lady Mules ended the match as they won the second game by nine.