Western Michigan was not exactly the recipe that BGSU Volleyball imagined for themselves coming off a split with Northern Illinois a week ago.

The Falcons (7-8) were left winless after a series sweep by the hands (or hooves) of the Broncos this weekend, as the gold and brown not only beat BGSU twice, but they did so in straight sets.

Not ideal for a team that came into the week feeling frustrated with how they competed against NIU.

“We really just came to the conclusion that we did not play our game,” said Kat Mandly during this week’s episode of “Diggin’ Deep“. “We didn’t have that fight, that fire, that unity that we normally do.”

Now I was there with the team in Kalamazoo, and I can say clearly that the fire was there.

The issue was? Western Michigan is just really freaking good.

The Broncos (14-2) have yet to lose a match and a SET in conference play so far, sweeping Miami in Oxford prior to this weekend at home with the orange and brown.

So it was not as if BGSU was playing bad, in fact they were statistically matching Western in many categories.

Across the two matches, BGSU and WMU were neck in neck, with BGSU racking up 84 kills compared to WMU’s 90, BGSU’s hitting percentage at an average of 19.75% compared to WMU’s average of 28.15%, BGSU’ 12 blocks to WMU’s 16, etc.

All it came down to was a simple fact that right now, Western is just the better team.

The stats were like the sets- they are close, but no cigar.

Now sitting below .500 as we hit the halfway point of the season, Bowling Green is at a point where we need to see the switch get flipped, the narrative changed, and the play refined.

Talent can only carry you so far, and at this point, it’s about how you are playing, not who you are playing.

“We have to clean up the mistakes and get back to playing to our standard,” associate head coach Alex DelPiombo said after Friday’s loss. “We had a lot of good moments, but Western just made a few more of the little plays.”

So as we enter the first week of October, we see the Falcons play host to the 5-10 Toledo Rockets for the “Battle of I-75” on Friday, followed by fellow 7-8 Ball State on Saturday.

While records are deceiving, Toledo is 3-1 in MAC play, while Ball State is a perfect 4-0. BG? A slow 1-3.

The matchups will continue to get fiercer, the conference standings tighter, and every point more and more important.

Does a split weekend mean the end for BGSU’s conference title chances? No. Does a sweep? No.

But a weekend full of winning will certainly help a Falcon team that now sits in fourth place in the MAC East Division, especially when teams like Ohio and Akron, who are ahead of BG in the division, have matchups that favor them heavily this weekend (vs NIU, vs Eastern Michigan respectively).

If they cannot,  I would start to be concerned about BG’s chances in getting back to the MAC tournament.

For more stories related to BGSU Athletics, follow Falcon Media Sports Network on X (@bg_fmsn).