By Mike Simmons, Staff Writer

NORTHWOOD, Iowa &8212; The Northwood-Kensett volleyball team dropped two matches Monday night in a triangular format in Northwood that included Ventura and West Hancock.

The Vikings lost their first match 3-1 to West Hancock and then had to sit and wait for West Hancock to take on Ventura. N-K then faced Ventura in the final match of the night and also lost it 3-1.

Although the Vikings lost six games on the night, there was one shinning bright spot that came to light in the Ventura game. That was freshman Kate Hartman, who dominated the net and just may have played the best match of her young career. Hartman finished the night with five kills as she was left alone at the net most of the night.

Ventura came into game one having just finished playing West Hancock, so there was some thought in the stands that maybe N-K would be more aggressive and more rested. That was obviously not the case; as a matter of fact, the exact opposite happened.

Ventura came in warmed up and rolled to a 19-2 lead and went on to totally dominate game one 25-9.

The second game was the coming out party for Hartman as she came to life and helped the Vikings take a nail biter 26-24. Hartman wasn&8217;t alone in having a good night after game one. Maddi Arnold smashed 10 thunderous kills and Angie Sime added seven blocks.

Games three and four both ended with scores of 25-16 with N-K coming up short in both.

&8220;We seemed really tired that last match, we couldn&8217;t even do the fundamental things, like passing,&8221; said Vikings head coach Connie Low. &8220;We handed out way to many gifts, we beat ourselves most of the time. There at the end, Ventura wasn&8217;t blocking Kate at the net, so I just told the girls, get the ball to Kate. But it still wasn&8217;t enough.&8221;

The Vikings will try to get back in the win column tonight when they travel to Sheffield.