MACOMB, Ill. -- Senior Lindsay Stalzer had a match-high 24 kills and tied a career-best with 19 digs to help Bradley to a five-game victory (30-27, 28-30, 27-30, 30-24, 15-6) Tuesday evening at Western Illinois to wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Braves improved to 14-12 overall and finished the non-conference schedule with a 7-7 record.

Stalzer moved into third place on the Missouri Valley Conference career kills list with her 24-kill effort against the Westerwinds. She passed Illinois State's Chris Rehor for third place in Valley history and her 1,778 career kills rank third behind Michelle Witzke's Valley record 1,919 kills and Molly O'Brien's 1,779 kills.

Bradley improved to 3-2 on the season in five-game matches, including a 3-1 record in road matches this season and have now won three consecutive matches that went five games. The defense played a big part in the victory as four Braves were in double figures in digs and five players had nine or more digs on the evening.

Senior Gillian Falknor led the defensive efforts with 29 digs as she became the seventh player in program history to record 400 or more digs in a season. Falknor now has six outings in 2005 with 28 or more digs and her 424 digs this season ranks as the sixth best season total in program history.

Stalzer tied a career high with her 19 digs and her 24 kills helped her break her own school-season record of 527 career kills. She now has 550 kills on the year which ranks as the 10th best season total in Valley history. Stalzer finished with her team-leading 15th double-double of the year.

Senior Briony Hammet also had a double-double, her sixth of the year, as she finished with 16 kills and 18 digs. Hammet now ranks 13th in school history with 919 career digs and is just 11 kills from reaching 800 as a Brave.

Sophomore Nikki Pierzchala nearly posted her fifth career double-double, finishing the night with 13 kills and nine digs. Also highlighting the defensive efforts were sophomore Amber DeBroux, who tallied a career-high 16 digs to go along with eight kills.

The Braves tied a season-high with 11 service aces, with Stalzer having a match high four aces. She took over third place on Bradley's career service ace list and now has 131 since arriving on The Hilltop.

Western Illinois (14-12 overall) had three players reach double figures in kills with Ashley Baker leading the way with 19 kills. Amy Sauerwein and Jennifer Alexander led the defensive efforts for the Westerwinds with 28 digs each.

Bradley closes out the regular season with four of its final six matches at home, beginning Friday against I-74 rival Illinois State. First serve for Friday's match between the Braves and Redbirds is set for 7 p.m. at Robertson Memorial Field House.