If gymnastics wants to win the MAC, it will have to beat the champs.

The Huskies (1-1, 1-0 MAC) will take on Western Michigan (0-3, 0-2 MAC) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Victor E. Court. This will be NIU’s second home conference meet in a row.

“A lot of us MAC teams are a lot alike, so it’ll be a good meet,” said head coach Sam Morreale. “It’ll be a close meet. They’re like us, trying to take the next step.”

The Western Michigan Broncos might be winless, but they’ll be a dangerous opponent. After starting the season off with a score of 190, they’ve increased the score by one point in each meet. Western Michigan’s last meet was a 194.025-192.1 loss to Kent State.

The Broncos have been particularly dangerous on floor exercises. Against Kent State, Western Michigan had a total score of 48.875. Freshman Audry Merritt and senior Lauren Bledsoe scored 9.85 and 9.8, respectively.

If Western Michigan has struggled in any event, it’s been on vault. Outside of sophomore Jessi Buis’ 9.8 and freshman Brittany Aragon’s 9.725 against Kent State, the Broncos’ performance has been below expectations.

That’s a plus for the Huskies, who dominate on vault. Sophomore Jaelyn Olsen has been the team’s standout on vault, consistently scoring 9.7.

The Huskies scored an average of 192 in both meets this season, which might not be good enough to hold off an improving Western Michigan. Freshman Courtney Dowdell said the team is right on the cusp of reaching 194, and this meet could be the right time to reach that mark.

“I think that we’ll do great,” Dowdell said. “We’re shooting for the 194-195 goal. I feel like everyone is ready to hit that number already.

“I think we’re really close. Just as long as we stay consistent and as long as we think about little details that we’ve work on in practice. I think that we can easily get it.”

While NIU has been improving, it will need a jump in scores if it wants to make a run at the MAC Championship. Morreale said the Huskies have their routines down and it’s just a matter of improving the execution.

“It’s hitting handstands,” Morreale said. “It’s better landings when we’re either dismounting or with our floor stuff. We’re doing our things really well. We’re just not sharp on our landings. So, we’re just giving the judges a bunch of areas to just take stuff.”

The Huskies could be going into the meet without senior team captain Megan Melendez. Melendez injured her heel during warmups at the meet against Ball State. Morreale hasn’t named a replacement, but he said anyone could fill in depending on how the gymnasts look in practice.

Dowdell wants the meet to be a sign that a new team is ready to be champions.

“We want to take their place,” Dowdell said.