NORMAL, Ill. -- Illinois State posted a 30-24, 28-30, 30-18, 30-28 victory Sunday afternoon against Bradley at Redbird Arena, to snap the Braves eight-match win streak and give Bradley its first conference loss of the season. Bradley fell to a 11-7 overall and is now tied for second in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 6-1 record.

Senior Linday Stalzer had a match-high 24 kills to lead the Braves, as she also added 13 digs for her team-leading 10th double-double of the year. Fellow senior Briony Hammet was the only other Brave with more than four kills, tallying nine on the afternoon to go along with her 11 digs.

Bradley led in game one 14-13, before a 9-1 Illinois State run helped the Redbirds take a 22-15 lead. Kari Staehlin had three of her eight game-one kills during the run that gave the Redbirds control of the game as they cruised to a 30-24 victory in the opener.

Stalzer recorded 10 of her 24 kills on the day in the game two and Falknor had 11 of her 17 digs in the second game as the duo helped spark the Braves to a 30-28 win to even the match. Bradley had 32 digs in game two, paced by Falknor's 11, and Stalzer recorded 10 of the Braves 16 kills in the second game victory.

Illinois State used a 10-2 run midway through game three and hit .412 in the frame to take a 2-1 lead in the match. With the score tied at 8-8, Bradley committed five attack errors (four ISU blocks), a ball handling error and one service error during the Redbirds run that gave ISU an 18-10 lead. The Braves were unable to cut the lead under seven points as Illinois State took a 2-1 lead with a 30-18 victory.

The teams battled back and forth in game four before Illinois State made a late push to close out the match. The score was knotted at 15-15, before a small 4-0 run by Bradley gave the Braves a 19-15 lead. ISU countered with three consecutive points to get back to within one point at 19-18. Kills by Stalzer and Ashley Vance and block assist by Stalzer and Jenna Harrison pushed the Braves lead back to four points at 22-18.

Staehlin then sparked a Redbird rally, however, notching four consecutive kills to pull Illinois State even at 22-22. Bradley eventually took a 26-24 lead on a kill by Hammet, but the Redbirds scored the next five points, thanks in part to three Bradley ball handling errors. With ISU leading 29-27, a Redbird attack error and block by Amber DeBroux and Katrina Goncher pulled the Braves to within 29-28, but Illinois State scored the final point on an illegal back row attack by the Braves to win the match 3-1.

The loss ended Bradley's longest winning streak since the 2002 season at eight matches and was the Braves first loss in Valley play. Stalzer moved into 11th place on the Missouri Valley Conference career kills list, passing Bobbi Becker (Northern Iowa) and now has 1,631 career kills.

Ashley Vance had a team-high 28 assists, while senior Gillian Falknor had a team-best 17 digs and sophomore Nikki Pierzchala was also in double figures in digs with 11. Freshman Katrina Goncher posted a match-high eight block assists and junior Amber DeBroux had seven block to lead Bradley's defensive efforts at the net.

Illinois State (10-6 overall, 6-2 MVC) had three players reach double figures in kills, paced by Staehlin's career high 22 kills. The Redbirds also received 15 kills from Laura Doornbos and 10 kills from Emily Kabbes.

Bradley returns to action Tuesday when the Braves play at Loyola-Chicago at 7 p.m.