By John RittenhouseThe Luverne tennis team opened the 2003 season at the Worthington Invitational Tournament Tuesday.The individual competition turned into a decent debut for two LHS singles players and a doubles team.Cardinals Nikki Van Dyk and Brittany Boeve placed second at No. 2 and No. 3 singles respectively. Heidi Sandbulte and Christina Lovett finished second at No. 3 doubles.Considering the Cardinals are a young team adjusting to life without four seniors from the 2002 squad, Luverne experienced a good opener."We had five girls get their first varsity experience today," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "All of our experienced players are young, and we had to move them up in our lineup. Once the girls adjust to playing where they are playing now, we’ll be OK."Tuesday Van Dyk and Boeve seemed to make a smooth transition from playing doubles last year to singles this season.Van Dyk handed Worthington’s Lindsey Radloff a pair of 5-3 setbacks in the first round before dropping a 5-2, 5-3 match to Pipestone’s Abby Brody in the second round. Van Dyk secured a 6-5 (7-3 in the tie-breaker), 6-4 win over Martin County West’s Brittany Wieseman in the third round to finish the day at 2-1.Boeve posted 6-4 and 5-2 wins over Worthington’s Kassi Buysman before losing a 5-1, 5-3 match to Pipestone’s Chrisy Cunningham in the second round. Boeve bounced back to best MCW’s Cailey Grupe 5-6, 5-1, 7-4 in the third round to finish third.Sandbulte and Lovett went 2-1 while playing their first varsity tennis matches as a doubles team.They beat Worthington’s Kristy Jackson 3-5, 5-2, 7-5 in the first round before topping Pipestone’s Tonya Rudy and Caroline Cooper 5-3 and 6-5 (7-5 in the tie-breaker) in the second round. MCW’s Jessica Dressen and Toni Pribyl denied the Cardinal team a doubles title by beating the LHS squad 5-3 and 6-4 in the final match.Luverne’s Kaitlyn Deragisch placed third at No. 4 singles with a 1-2 record. Jessica Klein and Amy Herman went 1-2 to place third at No. 2 doubles, and Lindsey Severtson and Katie Kraetsch went 1-2 to finish third at No. 4 doubles.Alyssa Klein went 0-3 at No. 1 singles, and Andraya Gacke and Alyssa Klein went 0-3 at No. 1 doubles.Luverne plays at the Fairmont Tournament Friday before playing a match against Yellow Medicine East in Pipestone Monday and taking on Brandon Valley in Brandon, S.D., Tuesday.
