Box Score LEWISTON, Idaho – Natalie Taylor recorded 15 kills but it wasn't enough to prevent The Evergreen State College from losing its official 2015 volleyball season opener to Montana-Western on Friday afternoon at the Red Lion Classic hosted by Lewis-Clark State College.

Montana-Western took the victory by scores of 25-21, 25-19, 26-24, to improve its season record to 2-4. Evergreen had played an earlier tournament match against North Idaho College but because NIC is a two-year school that was considered a scrimmage.

Taylor, who also played well in the NIC match, led both teams with her 15 kills and she finished with a .333 attack percentage. Freshman middle blocker Kaela Carnes had seven kills, one solo block and two block assists, while sophomore middle blocker Matisse Davis added seven kills and a .333 attack percentage.

Junior Kylie Kytan and senior Kelsey Delagrange shared the setting duties, Kytan finished with 19 assists to go along with three kills, while Delagrange had 16 assists and a team-high 17 digs. Junior outside hitter Jorden Porter contributed two service aces and eight digs for the Geoducks.

In the opening set the Geoducks fell behind 4-0 before scoring six of the next eight points to tie it at 6-6. The two teams battled on even terms until late in the set when Montana-Western broke away from a 20-20 tie by scoring four consecutive points on the way to the win.

There were two ties very early in the second set before Montana-Western gradually pulled away, leading by as many as seven points at 22-15 before settling for the six-point victory.

Evergreen raced out to a 6-1 lead to start the third set and still led 15-10 when the Montana pulled even at 17-17, and then took its first lead of the set at 22-21. The Geoducks earned set point at 24-23 on a kill by freshman middle blocker Nadya Bordewick before their opponent scored the final three points to take the set and match.

Montana-Western hit .314 as a team while the Geoducks finished the match at .207, including .325 in the final set.

Evergreen plays two Saturday matches at the Red Lion Classic, facing tournament host Lewis-Clark State at 10 a.m. and St. Francis (Ill.) at 2 p.m.