Several people have told Denise Van De Walle that Savage Arena would be a great place to get her 500th career win.

If she wants it to happen this season, she doesn’t have much of a choice.

With the 11th seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, the Falcons will travel north today to take on rival Toledo, the sixth seed, at 7 p.m. in a win-or-go-home situation.

Van De Walle hoped BG could have had a first-round home match, but can’t complain too much about the Toledo location.

‘We’re really happy to get to go to Toledo for the Tuesday match,’ she said. ‘It’s great that it’s so close for us and our fans. We’re hoping a lot of Falcon faithful will make the trip up north. To look up and see the color orange in Savage would be just what we need.’

When BG (12-19, 5-11 MAC) faced the Rockets earlier this season, they lost in four hard-fought sets, 25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 25-22.

In the match, Shari Luther and Kaitlin Jackson had 13 kills, respectively, while Alex Zlabis had a then-career high 24 digs.

After playing them earlier this season and scouting some more, Van De Walle knows what they team must do to win.

‘We’ll need to serve tough,’ Van De Walle said. ‘Passing will be important. We’ll want to be in the system so we can run our offense. We’ll need our pin hitters to have another night like they did against Kent.’

After having Sunday off, BG was only able to practice yesterday. Van De Walle said there are a few areas in which the team needed some improvement.

‘We’ll continue to work on blocking and serving,’ she said. ‘When we’re blocking well, there’s a lot of energy on the floor. The team seems to really play well when we block a lot of balls.’

Historically, the Falcons have dominated the Rockets, as they hold a 48-13 all-time record against them. However, 11 of Toledo’s 13 wins came on their home court.

This season, the Rockets have had one of their best seasons in program history, finishing in a tie for second place in the MAC West Division. Their defense is strong as they lead the conference with 16.20 digs per set.

Toledo’s Kassie Kadera leads the way offensively, averaging 10.92 assists per set, which is second in the conference.

Regardless of how well BG has played against Toledo in the past, Van De Walle knows what kind of match it is going to be.

‘It’s going to be a hard-fought match,’ Van De Walle said. ‘Both teams know the winner goes to SeaGate [Center]. We want to be there. We should be there. We are one of the top eight teams in this conference.”