The Luverne Cardinals tennis team continued its dominance on Monday, May 10. The Cardinals defeated St. James 4-3 in Luverne to remain undefeated and improve to 10-0 overall.
“It was a great team effort,” Luverne head coach Lucas Larson said. “The boys are reaping the rewards for the hard work they continue to put in. I’m very proud of them.”
Luverne’s Pierce Cunningham defeated Marco Hernandez in straight sets. Cunningham won the first set 6-0 and took the second set 6-2 to pick up the match victory.
Griffen Jarchow won his match in straight sets for the Cardinals. Jarchow defeated Payton Brown in the first set 6-0. Jarchow then took the second set 6-1 to pick up the victory.
Kyle Ferguson lost a hard-fought match to St. James’ Preston Wegner.
Wegner won the first set 7-5 and then took the second set 6-0.
Brennan Kern defeated Luverne’s Chance Tunnissen in straight sets. Kern won the first set 7-6 and took the second set 6-2.
Luverne’s Blake Frahm and Ben Jarchow defeated the duo of Caleb Rivera and James Gutierrez in a thrilling three-set match.
The Cardinal duo won the first set 6-1. Rivera and Gutierrez bounced back to win the second set 6-3. The Cardinal duo won the third set 6-4 to pick up the 2-1 victory.
Luverne’s Jayson Rops and John Miller won a back-and-forth match over Rudolfo Arreola and Andrel Rivera. Rops and Miller won the first set 7-5 and then took the second set 7-6.
“John Miller and Jayson Rops came through in the clutch when we needed them to,” Larson said.
“The resolve they showed as first-year tennis players was much needed.”
St. James’ duo of Juan Castaneda and Adan Rodriguez defeated Luverne’s Ethan Nath and Logan Ommen in three sets.
Nath and Ommen won the first set 6-2, but failed to win the match. The St. James duo won the second set 6-3 and then won the third set 6-4.