BOISE, Idaho — South Dakota State volleyball dropped a four-set match to Montana on Thursday evening in the opening contest of the Boise State Classic. Set scores went 19-25, 24-26, 25-21, 18-25.

Freshman Sylvie Zgonc set a new career high of 17 kills to go with four digs, three blocks, two assists and an ace.

Zgonc was joined in double figures by Masa Scheierman with 12 kills and Katie Van Egdom with 11. Van Egdom also contributed nine digs and a block, ace and assist.

Raegen Reilly dished 32 assists, notched 10 digs and recorded three ace serves, which matches her career best. Rylee Martin added seven assists, seven digs and an ace. Stella Winterfeld led the Jacks with 15 digs.

The Jackrabbits notched 10 total aces as a team but committed nine serving errors in the contest. Montana also had nine serving errors and five ace serves. Montana had the advantage in kills (59-27), hitting percentage (.267-.211) and digs (57-55). SDSU bested Montana 6-5 in blocks.

Paige Clark had 22 kills and 13 digs for Montana, both team highs.

Montana jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the opening set. Kills from Scheierman, Reilly and Van Egdom helped the Jacks work back to within three at 9-6. After a Montana block, Van Egdom notched a kill and the Grizzlies committed an error to make it a two-point game. The sides traded points until 13-11, then Montana forced an SDSU timeout with a run that made it 17-12. With Montana leading 23-15, the Jacks put together three straight points before the Grizzlies ended it 25-19.

The second set featured 18 ties and 11 lead changes. SDSU led 6-4 before Montana regained the lead with four straight points. A Montana error and Zgonc ace, one of five Jackrabbit aces in the set, tied the game at eight. Winter put down an ace to make it 15-14 for SDSU. Down 20-18, Reilly provided consecutive aces to take the lead back at 21-20. Following a Scheierman kill that made it 22-20, Montana won the set with a 6-2 run.

SDSU took a 6-1 lead with multiple kills from Zgonc and a Faith Saewert ace. The Grizzlies picked up two points off a service error and an ace, then neither team scored consecutive points until it was 14-9 in favor of the Jackrabbits. A kill by Montana and three SDSU errors put the Grizzlies within one, 14-13. Montana regained the lead, 19-17, with another three straight points. Van Egdom and Scheierman tied the game at 19 and following two more Montana points, the Jackrabbits forced a fourth set with a 6-0 run that included two Winterfeld aces.

Montana got off to an 11-3 start in the final set. A Grizzly serving error and a Winter ace made it 11-5, still in favor of Montana. Montana went up 16-7 before the Jackrabbits started to chip away at the deficit. Kills by Scheierman, Zgonc and Winter were part of a 4-1 stretch that made it 17-11. Another Scheierman kill and a pair of Montana attack errors pulled SDSU within four at 22-18. Following a Grizzly timeout, Montana scored three straight to take the match.

SDSU falls to 2-8 on the season. Montana is now 4-6.

SDSU faces off with host Boise State on Saturday night at 8 p.m. CDT.