Bowling Green volleyball coach Denise Van De Walle simply wants the Falcons to hit the road and go after Akron and Buffalo this weekend.
“Right now we look at Akron and Buffalo, and we know we’re in that must-have situation … must play well, must give it our best,” she said. “We have to go after these two teams aggressively, and not sit back and see how they’re going to play because they’re in the same boat as us.”
BG, 1-3 in the Mid-American Conference and 7-8 overall, plays Akron (2-2, 7-9) tonight at 7 p.m. The Falcons will take the floor again tomorrow for a 6 p.m. contest against Buffalo (0-4, 8-9).
After dropping consecutive home matches to MAC opponents last week, Van De Walle said it’s important to get things back on the upswing for momentum’s sake. She also has her eyes set on the MAC Tournament next month.
“This whole season everyone’s playing for seeding … and we want to be home that first-round,” she said. “We’re four matches into a 16-match season. A lot of good things can happen to this team, because I have a great team. They just gotta start believing in themselves a little bit more, and we had it that night in Ball State.”
Van De Walle was referring to the 24-match losing streak BG ended against the Cardinals the last time they were on the road.
But in a season relatively filled with inconsistency and unpredictably, she said the focus during this week of practice has been on the level of competitiveness, instead of what was accomplished in the past.
“It seems like our skills are pretty good but we just lack some competitiveness when teams start to push on us a little bit,” she said. “We’ve been very good till about 20-22 points and then it seems like those last 8-10 we lose some of the fight or we lose some of the focus.”
Van De Walle has re-emphasized the importance of consistency, which is something she feels the team has been lacking.
“That’s how you get the word associated with anything you do, it has to be over time,” she said. “That’s what we’re trying to get the players to realize is that in order to be good the consistency has to be there over time. We have to work hard all the time. Our skill level has to be high all the time.
“The biggest thing right now is the fact that we do look good up until those 22-23 points,” she continued. “We are earning our points, and that’s something that we stress. We don’t want to rely on Akron or Buffalo to have an off night in order for us to win. We’ve just got to feel good about our performance all the way through.”
Something Van De Walle is doing to atone for the Falcons’ shortcomings are lineup changes.
Annie Griffin, freshman, is expected to see some time at setter, which would move Chrissy Gothke to right-side hitter.
“We like the way Annie sets, she sets a great ball and we like the way Chrissy hits,” Van De Walle said. “So that’s something we’re going to be doing quite a bit of. Right now, we think it’ll pay big dividends for us.”
Gothke, who is the only BG player to start in every game this season, said she would be fine with the possible switch.
“Whatever Coach needs my role to be, I have no problem,” the 5-foot-10-inch junior said. “Whatever’s more successful for the team, I’m more than willing to do. I’m definitely ready to be aggressive on the hitting side.”
Van De Walle is contemplating the idea of more moves.
“I think Mandeline Means has been doing a good job offensively for us. So you’re going to see her in the lineup more and Chelsey [Meek] and [Maggie] Karges will be splitting time at the libero position.”
Senior Emily Manser said the team has taken big strides, and is seeking two victories this weekend.
“We fixed some things we’ve been having problems with and hopefully we’ll come out really strong against Akron and carry that on to Buffalo.”
