By John RittenhouseThe Luverne tennis team posted a pair of match wins and competed in two tournaments during the second week of the season.The Cardinals participated in doubles tournaments in St. James (Wednesday, Aug. 25) and Friday respectively. Luverne opened match play by nipping Yellow Medicine East by one point in Pipestone Monday before winning its home debut by five points over Sioux Falls Lincoln’s junior varsity team.Luverne will compete at a triangular meet in Redwood Falls Saturday before hosting MACCRAY Tuesday.Luverne 6, Lincoln 1The Cardinals had little trouble disposing of Lincoln’s junior varsity team during their home opener Tuesday.Luverne took all three doubles matches and went 3-1 in singles on the way to a five-point win."We were just better than they were today (Tuesday), said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "Our doubles teams have played really well so far this year. The girls really seem to get along, so we’ve paired them up well. Things have really clicked for them."Luverne won all three doubles matches in straight sets.Andraya Gacke and Brittany Boeve bested Meghan Archer and Danielle Gilbert by 6-2 and 6-1 scores at No. 1. Heidi Sandbulte and Jessica Klein coasted to 6-0 and 6-1 victories over Katie Graue and Katherine Carstensen at No. 2. Christina Lovett and Robin Madtson collected 7-5 and 6-1 wins against Mari Coome and Kristie Xian at No. 3.Luverne’s Samantha Gacke strolled to 6-0 and 6-1 scores over Chelsea Koepsell at No. 1 singles, while Alyssa Klein won by the same scores over Amy Bertrand at No. 2. Kaitlyn Deragisch also secured a singles win for LHS, besting Katrin Profilet by 6-3 and 6-4 scores at No. 4.Lincoln’s Allie Gebauer recorded a point for the visitors by topping Nikki Van Dyk by 6-2 and 6-0 scores at No. 2.Antoine was satisfied with winning the match, but he wasn’t completely happy with his team’s demeanor on the court."The one thing we need to work on is playing with more feeling and emotion. We need to play with some desire," he said.Luverne 4, YME 3The Cardinals prevailed in their first dual meet of the season when they bested the Sting by one point in Pipestone Monday.Luverne swept the three doubles matches from YME, but it was Alyssa Klein’s victory over Melissa Rasmussen at No. 2 singles that clinched the win for the Cards.With the other six matches complete, Klein found herself trailing by one set after Rasmussen took the opener 6-1. With players from both teams watching from the stands, Klein battled back to win 7-5 in the second set before prevailing 6-1 in the finale."It was a pressure match for Alyssa," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "She did a nice job strategy-wise. She did a nice job of getting to the net, dropping some short shots and going wide on her opponent."Antoine was also pleased with his doubles teams, which bounced back from slow starts to win all three matches.Andraya Gacke and Boeve secured 6-4 and 7-5 wins over Jess Pederson and Haley Bennet at No. 1, and Lindsey Severtson and Katie Kraetsch notched 6-3 and 6-1 victories over Amanda Stavany and Tiffany Miller at No. 3.The No. 2 squad of Jessica Klein and Sandbulte won a three-set match (6-4, 3-6, 6-2) from Meghan Bredesen and Rachel Crowley.YME’s Ashley Bennet topped Samantha Gacke by 6-2 and 6-0 scores at No. 1 singles. Michelle Miller upended Deragisch by 6-2 and 6-1 tallies at No. 3. Jessica Dhoore bested Amy Herman by 6-0 and 6-2 counts at No. 4.Fairmont tourneyThe Cardinals won two flight titles and placed second as a team during Friday’s tournament in Fairmont.Six LHS teams competed in three flights (two in each flight) at the all-doubles tournament, and each team played seven games against the other doubles squads in each flight.Luverne, which fielded the winning teams in the Championship and Mr. T’s Flights, won 119 games during the tournament to place second to Fairmont (125 games) in the final standings. Worthington capped the field with 71 game wins."This tournament served as a good confidence-builder for us," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "It took us a while to get going in the morning after getting on the bus at 6:30 a.m., but I think we played better in the afternoon."The day turned in to a good one for the doubles teams of Samantha Gacke and Boeve, and Robin Madtson and Herman. Gacke and Boeve won 24 of 35 games to win the Championship Flight. Madtson and Herman posted 23 wins to take top honors in the Mr. T’s Flight.Alyssa Klein and Andraya Gacke secured 16 wins to finish fourth in the Championship Flight. Severtson and Kraetsch won 22 games to finish in a tie for second place in the Mr. T’s Flight.Deragish and Van Dyk joined forces to win 23 games and place second in the Captain’s Flight. Jessica Klein (all rounds), Sandbulte (three rounds) and Whitney Maine (two rounds) posted 11 wins to place fifth in the Captain’s flight.SJ tourneyThe Cardinals sent 16 players to compete in an all-doubles tournament in St. James Wednesday, Aug. 25.Luverne ran into some strong teams, going 0-3 against squads representing the host school, Sibley East and Maple River. Still, LHS coach Antoine thought tournament provided a positive experience for the girls."The competition was very good," he said. "We got a lot of good experience from this tournament. It’s always good to play against somebody that’s better than you are just to get an idea where you need to go."Luverne’s No. 2 doubles team consisting of Alyssa Klein and Deragisch experienced the most success for the Cards by going 2-1 for the day.They beat SE’s Whitney Trocke and Kendra Willhite by 5-1 and 5-2 scores in the first round before falling 5-3, 1-5, 3-10 (super tiebeaker for the third set) to SJ’s Ashley Ekstrom and Jana Runge in the second round. Klein and Deragisch bounced back to best MR’s Erynn Jensen and Heather Annis by 5-2 and 5-3 tallies in the finale.Luverne’s Samantha Gacke and Boeve went 1-2 at No. 1 doubles, Heidi Sandbulte and Severtson went 1-2 at No. 4 and Herman and Maine went 1-2 at No. 6.Andraya Gacke and Jessica Klein (No. 3), Madtson and Kraetsch (No. 5), Anissa Hanson and Tabitha Sanderson (No. 7) and Kelby Robinson and Maleeka Sandager (No. 8) all went 0-3.
