By John RittenhouseThe Luverne tennis team captured the school’s first Section 3A Team Tournament title by winning three straight matches during the event early this week.Luverne blanked MACCRAY during Monday’s quarterfinals in Luverne.The Cardinals traveled to Redwood Valley Tuesday to complete the tournament, where they posted 4-3 wins over Lac qui Parle Valley and Montevideo to win the championship.Luverne, 14-4 overall, will compete at its first Minnesota State Class A Team Tennis Tournament June 7 in Burnsville. The Cardinals will take on the Section 1A champion in the quarterfinals at 10 a.m. at the Northwest Athletic Club.Luverne 4, Montevideo 3The Cardinals punched their ticket to the state tournament by defeating the Thunder Hawks by one point during the section title match in Redwood Falls Tuesday.Luverne threw a curve at Montevideo by placing some of its top singles players on doubles teams for the title tilt, and the strategy worked out for the best."We switched our lineup to strengthen our doubles teams, and it paid off," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine."Our third doubles team fell behind early, but came back to win a tough match to tie the score at three. The only match left was No. 1 singles. Dusty (Antoine) won first set, and Keith (Gordon, of Montevideo) won the second set. From there it was a dogfight with Dusty coming out on top to send us to state."Antoine won the decisive match by scores of 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, but the wins posted by the LHS doubles teams were equally important to the cause.Brandon Deragisch and Nick Heronimus notched 6-0 and 6-2 victories over Adam Jones and Sebass Richters at No. 1. David Nelson and Derek Boeve topped Adam Malecek and Sam Hathaway by 6-2 and 6-0 tallies at No. 2. Weston Sawtelle and Zach Sanderson recorded a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Trevor Kittleson and Chris Tastad at No. 3.Montevideo’s points came in singles, where Luverne filled the final three positions with freshmen players.Peter Mohagen bested Matt Kreuch by 6-0 and 6-2 scores at No. 2, Ryan Aeiken upended Erik Stegemann by 6-0 and 6-1 tallies at No. 3, and Adam Larsen saddled Jamie Vickery with a pair of 6-0 setbacks at No. 4."The three freshmen that filled in at singles for us did so for the team. This truly was a team effort. Everyone did what was asked of them," Antoine said.Luverne 4, LQPV 3The Cardinals advanced to the section title match with a one-point win over LQPV Tuesday in Redwood Falls.Like the championship match against Montevideo, the Cardinals swept LQPV in doubles and won one singles test to notch the victory.Deragisch and Heronimus topped Kevin Cerny and Cody Swenson by 6-2 and 6-0 scores at first doubles. Sawtelle and Stegemann handed Mike Schliep and Yan To Cheung a pair of 6-1 set backs at No. 2. Kreuch and Vickery prevailed by 6-0 and 6-1 tallies against Matt Roggenbuck and Matt Schliep at No. 3.Boeve produced the singles win for LHS by besting Jamie Schweiger by 6-1 and 6-2 scores at No. 3.Dutch Hanson (6-3 and 7-5 over Dusty Antoine at No. 1), Ian Hanson (6-1, 7-6, 7-3 in the tie-breaker over Nelson at No. 2) and Darren Schweiger (6-1 and 6-3 over Sanderson at No. 4) posted singles wins for LQPV.Luverne 7, MACCRAY 0The Cardinals opened tournament play by rolling to a seven-point home win over MACCRAY.Top-seeded LHS lost two sets during the match, and three singles players posted wins without losing a game.Nelson (over Nate Satre at No. 2), Derek Boeve (over Gavin Balderas at No. 3) and Sanderson (over Lucas Diesken at No. 4) all notched a pair of 6-0 victories for the Cards.Antoine lost a 6-0 set to MACCRAY’s Zach Reiger at No. 1 singles before rallying to post 6-4 wins in the second and third sets.Luverne prevailed in straight sets at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. Deragisch and Heronimus bested Matt Skoglund and Travis Wubben by 6-3 and 7-5 tallies at No. 1. Kreuch and Vickery downed Nate Chayapornsopon and Alex Sweep by 6-3 and 6-2 counts at No. 3.Sawtelle and Stegemann bested Mike Ammermann and Mitch Kremin in a three-set battle at second doubles featuring scores of 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
