A method of making a carbonized preform for a carbon-carbon composite brake disk may comprise: stacking a plurality of textile fabric layers, each textile fabric layer in the plurality of textile fabric layers including oxidized polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers, each textile fabric layer in the plurality of textile fabric layers being more uniform than a typical fabric layer formed from cross-lapping; each fabric layer being thinner than a typical fabric layer from cross-lapping, needling the plurality of textile fabric layers to form a needled non-woven board; cutting a fibrous preform from the needled non-woven board; and carbonizing the fibrous preform. The resultant non-woven carbonized preform maintains a higher fiber volume and more consistent properties throughout than what would otherwise be achieved using a typical fabric layer from cross-lapping.