MACOMB, Ill. - Junior Jennifer Alexander (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) notched a match-high 32 digs and became Western Illinois? all-time digs leader, but it wasn?t enough for Western to win its second Mid-Con match as it fell to Valparaiso 3-1 (25-30, 30-28, 30-32, 17-30).Alexander needed just 14 digs to top Sue Orstrom?s all-time record of 1,403 that was set from 1984-87. Alexander?s 14th dig came in Western?s game two win, and she added 18 more throughout the third and fourth games.?The most important thing about her breaking the record this evening is that it?s the first time in her career that she has posted big numbers against Valparaiso,? said fourth-year head coach Kym McKay. ?This was one of her season goals, and from a coaching perspective, you always want to see a player reach a goal. However, the best thing for a coach to see is her players achieving all of their goals when the season comes to a close in November.?Valparaiso (11-4, 2-0 Mid-Con) jumped to an early 11-5 lead in the first game and only allowed Western (5-8, 1-1 Mid-Con) to inch within three points at the 24-21 mark. The Crusaders took advantage of back-to-back Western errors for a 27-22 lead before trading points for the 30-25 win.Western rallied to a 15-10 lead in game two before Valparaiso answered back with a seven-point run to even the score 19-all. The teams went back-and-forth for the remainder of the match before Western clinched the game 30-28 on kills by Monique Houston (Wheeling, Ill./Wheeling) and Michelle Donnelly (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington Central Catholic). Sophomores Mary Olson (Elkhart, Ill./Mount Pulaski) and Amy Sauerwein (Belleville, Ill./Belleville Althoff Catholic) recorded nine of Western?s 16 kills to Valpo?s 21, but Western won the game by capitalizing on the Crusaders? nine errors to its three.The intensity of game two spilled into game three as the teams forced the game into extra points with nine lead changes and 17 tied scores. Junior Patty Melinauskas (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) recorded a big kill on Valpo?s game point to tie the game 30-all, but Valpo bounced back on back-to-back Western attack errors for the 32-30 win.Valpo took off early in the fourth and final game of the match to a 15-6 lead, and held Western to a match-low nine kills in its 17-30 loss.Despite the loss, McKay was able to record her second game win in four seasons against 2003 and 2004 conference champion Valparaiso. McKay?s first game win came in her first match against the Crusaders in 2002, but has been followed by five-straight 3-0 losses.Olson paced Western?s offense with a team-high 13 kills, and Melinauskas added her second double-double of the season with 12 kills and 13 digs. Sauerwein collected 32 digs and nine kills, and senior Jenna Yurs (Elgin, Ill./St. Edwards/Elgin C.C.) posted eight kills and nine blocks. Freshman Sarah Trimpe (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) also collected a double-double with 37 assists and 14 digs.Amy Palash led Valparaiso with 18 kills and 20 digs, and Lauren Moulton finished with 14 kills. Jessie Fox posted 13 kills and five blocks, and Katie Bova collected 58 assists and 24 digs.?Tonight was the first time this group of players has taken a game from Valparaiso, and that?s important just to serve as a confidence booster in terms of our conference finish,? said McKay. ?We know that when we play well, we can control a lot of the game. Unfortunately, our two modes are playing well and playing poorly. When we played poorly, it was at very bad times. We didn?t finish well in game three, and that carried over in game four with a sluggish, non-confident start. The most important thing coming out of this match is that we can play with the best of the conference, but we just need to learn to play good volleyball for longer periods of time.??Now the girls have first-hand experience with the top team in the conference, and we were competitive with them. Everything we learned tonight will really aid us in reaching our goal of playing in the conference championship this year,? McKay added.Western will take a break in conference action Sunday afternoon with a 3 p.m. match against Southern Illinois to wrap-up its three-match home stand.