MACOMB, Ill. - Senior setter Sarah Trimpe had 11 kills, 35 assists and 17 digs for her second triple-double of the season, and only third of her career, while Monique Houston and Emily Harrison each recorded a double-double, but Western fell short to Bradley, 3-1, Tuesday.

The Braves (4-9) out-hit the Westerwinds (5-9) in the first two sets with six more kills and one less error for a 25-19 victory in each, when Western rallied in the third set to keep the match alive.

"The story of games one and two is that we had no energy and no passion," Western Illinois head coach Kym McKay said. "We have a home game in the middle of the week with the band here and a great crowd and we were lifeless; there is just no excuse for that. Going into the break after the first two games I said I wasn't as concerned with our execution and play, but that they needed to go out there with excitement and have fun."

The Westerwinds jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and continued with it through two ties until the very end of the third set to defeat Bradley, 25-21. Trimpe had five kills, 10 assists and seven digs in the set, which put her over the half-way mark to her triple-double.

"The third game was all about energy," McKay said. "It was something that simple for us to play better. It's hard, as an athlete to be down 0-2 and come out and be excited about playing and they did that. So that shows that they can make the changes when they need to make them. It would be a different story if we could approach every game with that passion."

Trading points in the final set, the teams tied the score on 12 occasions with the 11th tie at match point. A Western Illinois service error boosted Bradley up a point when Trimpe had a kill to tie the set up for the final time at 25-25. The Braves earned the final two points off a pair of Western Illinois attack errors to take the final set, 27-25.

Houston's double-double came from 13 kills and 14 digs while Harrison's was made up of 11 kills and 12 digs. In addition to her triple-double, Trimpe had the highest hitting percentage of any player in the match with a .385. Defensively, Elise Crnjak led Western in digs with 23 and Cait Egan was a part of all four of Western's blocks.

Western Illinois volleyball returns to the court, Saturday, for a 5 p.m. conference match against IUPUI in Brophy Hall.