Heading into last Friday’s Mid-American Conference match against nationally-ranked Ohio, Bowling Green volleyball coach Denise Van De Walle saw the No. 21 Bobcats as a precision tool for her team, a means by which to measure how far the Falcons have come.

BG entered the Convocation Center victorious in seven of its last eight contests.

But by game’s end, the Falcons had left unable to snap the Bobcats’ 34-match home win streak, falling in three sets, 30-27, 30-22, 30-26. OU improved to 12-0 in the Mid-American Conference and 22-2 overall with the win.

According to Van De Walle, the Falcons competed hard in what amounted to a difficult atmosphere for them to pull off an upset.

“OU’s a very good team,” she said. “They do some great things at the net, and they serve the ball well and they’ve created a really fun environment to play in. It was a really good match … We had our opportunities to pull the upset but we couldn’t finish.

“I thought we played very well,” she continued. “The part that is a little frustrating is that when you have opportunities to win a game and you don’t do it, you know that you’re still young and inexperienced.”

The following night against Kent State (4-8, 8-15), Van De Walle said the Falcons had one of their worst defensive performances in weeks during a four-set loss to the Golden Flashes, 25-30, 35-33, 30-25, 31-29.

BG fell to 6-6 in the MAC and 14-11 overall, but remain in third-place in the East Division.

“We got out to a good start … It was all BG in game one,” she said. “Then in game 2 we had an opportunity I thought, to pull away and be up 2-0. We couldn’t do it. Again, it’s about finishing.

“Kent State was in a more pressured situation than we were,” she said. They’re looking for wins to stay alive, so to speak. Game 3, was all Kent State. Game 4, we were up, had an opportunity to push it to 5 and couldn’t do it.”

Van De Walle added that the biggest problem the Falcons had against the Golden Flashes was their blocking and defense.

BG hit .268 for the Match, and was led by Kendra Halm’s game-high 19 kills. Ashlei Nofzinger had 18 kills, and Stephanie Swiger and Emily Manser chipped in with 17 and 14 kills, respectively.

However, the Falcons allowed KSU to hit .297 and four players to accumulate double-digit kills, led by Danielle Holt’s 18.

Van De Walle said the losses may become a turning point in this season.

“The conference is very competitive … And anyone can beat anyone on any given day,” she said. “It [the losses] might just be the kick in the pants we needed … Because we got a tough remainder of the season left.”

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