BERNIE -- Bernie coach Jason Long was getting the effort he needed from the Mules, but he wasn't getting the intelligence he needed.
"We played hard the first set, we realized that we needed to make a few adjustments. We needed to play smarter," Long said. "We've been struggling. Part of the reason we have been struggling is we haven't been playing smart."
Bernie started playing smarter in the second and third sets and came from behind to defeat Malden 25-27, 25-13, 25-18 on Tuesday.
"I think more than anything those last two sets we started playing smarter. And that led to a lot more confidence," Long said.
Freshman Logan Mayberry led Bernie with 12 kills and Cymber Arnold added 11.
One of the differences Long highlighted about how the Mules' playing smarter made a difference on the court was on free balls.
In the first set, Bernie was putting forth plenty of heart to get to chase down errant passes and stray digs. On the second point of the game, Bernie libero Taylor Lovelady went flying into the team trash can chasing after a pass. She speared the can, tumbled to the ground, and got up to her feet as point landed for Malden.
"I just wanted to make sure she was OK. She got up and said she was OK. You love the effort, you applaud the effort, it was a great effort by a senior and you need that kind of effort without getting hurt," Long said.
Bernie (4-7-1) was putting forth that kind of effort, only the difference was in the first set when they sent over a free ball, they were just sending it over.
Often Malden was able to comfortably set up its hitters and the Green Wave never trailed by more than three points in the opening set.
In the second and third sets, Bernie was sending those same free balls into more difficult spots, challenging the Green Wave to make strong passes to set up the attack.
Bernie never trailed in the second set and never by more than two points in the third set before pulling away with a late run.
"I thought the second and third set we did a lot better job even though we still had some errors. We did a lot better job of being aggressive and being smart but also seeing where the holes were," Long said.
Ryleigh Foster had 34 assists for the Mules and Lovelady led the defense with 12 digs.
The win is Bernie's first of September. The Mules opened the season 3-1 but have played a difficult stretch the past two weeks and were 0-6-1 for the month. After going 0-3-1 in the Notre Dame Volleyballfest, the Mules had to take on, and lost to, Advance, Dexter, and Poplar Bluff.
"We wanted to win. We wanted when bad. We needed this win," Long said. "More than anything, mentally, we need to have success and get a win against someone we can feel good about."
Bernie trailed Malden 18-15 in the first set, matching its biggest deficit on the night when the Lady Mules went on a 6-1 run.
Mayberry and Kelsey Spitzer had kills during the run and Arnold added an ace.
The Green Wave tied it up at 22 on Anna Belcher's kill.
Malden (14-2-1), which was coming off a 7-0-1 performance at the Dig For Life Challenge and a three-set win over Oran on Monday, was the first team to reach 24, 25, and 26 points. A Green Wave attacking error cost them their first set point, Arnold had a kill to prevent the second, but on third Bernie committed a passing error and the Green Wave finally took a two point lead to win the set.
In the second set, Bernie went on an early five-point run that featured four straight kills, two each from Arnold and Taylor Anthony.
They were able to push the lead to 10 points when Mayberry scored a tip off the block and Malden never got within seven points again.
The Mules closed the set with a 6-1 run that featured two kills from Arnold and an ace by Foster.
The decisive third set was tied as late as 16 points, but then Malden committed four consecutive errors.
Arnold got back-to-back kills to put Bernie ahead 22-17, then Anthony got a kill to set up match point and Mayberry drilled an attack off the block that sailed well out of bounds to win the match.