If volleyball were a puzzle, Falcon coach Denise Van De Walle believes her team would have some great pieces.

They just have to put them all together to see the picture.

The Falcons (7-6) faced their toughest test thus far this season when they headed to Columbus for the Ohio State Sports Imports Classic. Though they played favorably at times, they were unable to win a match against Cleveland State, Ohio State or Xavier.

‘This was a really great tournament for us to be in right before we open [Mid-American Conference] play,’ Van De Walle said. ‘We faced three different types of teams and we had our chances. We played great at times and then hit some real lows at times.’

BG opened the tournament with a five-set 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-10 loss to Cleveland State. They played well, just not in the fifth set when it counted the most.

Shari Luther, who was named to the all-tournament team, had a career high 17 kills and hit .421 in the loss.

When Luther is out on the floor, she doesn’t bring a lot of highs and lows into the match, Van De Walle said.

‘It’s pretty much a high every time she takes the floor,’ she said. ‘Luther was steady and stable throughout the tournament. She blocked more balls this weekend than she had been and that helped.

‘She’s very low error in her hitting and you can count on her to do her part each time we take the floor. That’s something we need.’

In the second match, OSU was very efficient, hitting .414 in the first set and .350 for the match. Luther led the team again with six kills, four blocks and a .364 attacking percentage.

To put it simply, Van De Walle said OSU was just flat out bigger and better than the Falcons are right now.

In the final match, BG was swept by Xavier, 25-20, 28-26, 25-23.

‘The fight we showed in the Xavier match was so much better than the day before,’ Van De Walle said. ‘We looked really good, but we just didn’t put the second set away when we had the lead.’