Luverne’s Samantha Gacke swats the ball during Monday’s Southwest Conference tennis match against Worthington in Luverne. The Cardinals beat the Trojans 4-3 to even their league mark at 1-1 for the season.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne tennis team split a pair of matches early this week.The Cardinals edged Worthington by one point in a Southwest Conference match played in Luverne Monday. LHS traveled to Sherburn Tuesday and came up on the short end of a five-point decision against Martin County West.Luverne, 3-5 overall, plays in Pipestone today before hosting Marshall and Sleepy Eye Monday and Tuesday respectively.MCW 6, Luverne 1The home-standing Mavericks caught the Cardinals at the right time in Sherburn Tuesday.Luverne was coming off an emotional victory over Worthington the day prior, and the Cards didn’t seem to have anything left for MCW Tuesday."Having a match and a trip the next day after a big win over Worthington didn’t work out well for us," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "We were flat."Luverne’s lone win came from Jessica Klein and Kaitlyn Deragisch, who took a three-set decision at No. 2 doubles against Kelsey Krueger and Melanie Schweiss at No. 2 doubles. The Luverne squad lost the first set 7-6 (7-5 in the tie-breaker) before bouncing back to nail down a pair of 6-3 wins in sets two and three.MCW’s Liza Bettin and Lindsay Brandt topped Jenny Braa and Nikki Van Dyk by 6-1 and 6-3 tallies at No. 1 doubles. Jessica Dressen and Toni Pribyl notched 6-2 and 6-4 wins over Andraya Gacke and Katie Kraetsch at No. 3.The Mavericks won all four singles matches in straight sets.Megan Biehn secured 6-0 and 7-5 wins over Samantha Gacke at No. 1, Brittany Weseman topped Brittany Boeve 6-3 and 7-6 (7-1 in the tie-breaker) at No. 2, Cailey Grupe upended Alyssa Klein by 6-3 and 6-1 tallies at No. 3, and Amy Goldencrown bested Christina Lovett by 6-1 and 6-2 counts at No. 2.Luverne 4,Worthington 3The Cardinals snapped a two-match losing skid when they posted a Southwest Conference win over Worthington in Luverne Monday.Things looked bleak for the Cards when Worthington won three of the first four matches played, but LHS took the final three contests to nip the Trojans by one point."We played pretty well," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "It probably was one of our best matches of the year."Luverne went 2-2 in singles and took two of three doubles battles.After losing a 6-2 set to Worthington’s Megan Ahlquist and Shelly Morrow at No. 1 doubles, Braa and Boeve rallied to notch 6-2 and 6-3 wins to win a three-set match.Cardinals Andraya Gacke and Lindsey Severtson secured 7-5 and 6-2 wins over Kristy Jackson and Maria Ramert at No. 3 doubles.Alyssa Klein and Deragisch secured wins in straight sets at No. 3 and No. 4 singles for LHS. Klein downed Kassi Buysman 7-6 (7-5 in the tie-breaker) and 6-1 to secure the match-winning point for Luverne. Deragisch beat senior Lindsay Meier by a pair of 6-1 scores.Worthington’s Joann Loosbrock and Samantha Tate won a 6-4, 1-6, 2-6 match from Jessica Klein and Heidi Sandbulte at No. 2 doubles.Worthington’s Lisa Jackson topped Samantha Gacke by 6-3 and 7-6 (7-5 in the tie-breaker) at No. 1 singles, while Lindsey Radloff saddled Van Dyk with a pair of 6-2 setbacks at No. 2.
