By John RittenhouseThe Luverne tennis team completed an undefeated Southwest Conference season by sweeping a seven-point home match against Worthington Monday.The Cardinals went 2-1 at the Benson Tournament Saturday, and secured a three-point win in Pipestone Thursday prior to winning the SWC title.Luverne, 13-4 overall, plays in Fairmont today and competes at the Yellow Medicine East Tournament Saturday before hosting Martin County West Tuesday.Luverne 7,Worthington 0The Cardinals completed their trek to a SWC championship by defeating the Trojans by seven points Monday in Luverne.Luverne turned in one of its best performances of the year on the way to winning seven matches in straight sets."I don’t know if the kids knew they were playing for the SWC championship, or what," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "But, this was the first time everyone played well in the same match. It would be nice to think we could take the momentum from this match and run into the section tournaments."The Cards, who finish league play with a 3-0 mark, received singles wins from Dusty Antoine, Patrick Bennett, Derek Boeve and David Nelson.Antoine notched 6-1 and 6-0 victories over Nate Peterson at No. 1. Bennett won by 6-0 and 6-1 tallies against Jason Johnson at No. 2. Boeve secured a 7-6 (7-3 in the tiebreaker) 6-2 victory against Tim Miller at No. 3. Nelson handed Quentin Dudley 6-2 and 6-0 setbacks at No. 4.Steven Althoff and Brandon Deragisch prevailed in a 7-6 (7-2 in the tiebreaker), 7-5 battle against Ben Clark and Justin Langseth at No. 1 doubles. John Kreuch and Kyle Fletcher posted 6-4 and 6-2 wins against Jordan Willemssen and Kale Calvin at No. 2. Trevor Maine and Chris Vickery rolled to 6-1 and 6-3 victories over Cody Neyens and Derek Ahlberg at No. 3.Benson tourneyOne Cardinal won an individual championship and Luverne went 2-1 as a team during Saturday’s tournament in Benson.Dusty Antoine had a perfect day at No. 1 singles, winning all three of his matches to secure an individual title.Antoine posted a pair of 6-1 wins over Yellow Medicine East’s Andrew Hewitt in the first round. He lost the first set to Cambridge’s William Anbuf before prevailing 7-5 in the second set and winning the third set by a 9-7 difference. Antoine ended his run by saddling Benson’s Dan Fragodt with 6-3 and 6-4 losses."Dusty really played well," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "He was down in the second set and in the tie-breaker against the kid from Cambridge, but he came back to beat him. He showed a lot of patience in that match."Antoine’s win against Anbuf proved to be the highlight for Luverne in a 6-1 loss to Cambridge. The Cardinals beat YME 6-1 and nipped Benson 4-3.Luverne’s No. 2 doubles team of Kreuch and Fletcher and the No. 3 squad of Vickery and Maine both went 2-1 for the tournament.Patrick Bennett, Derek Boeve and David Nelson all went 1-2 at No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 singles. Althoff and Deragisch went 1-2 at No. 1 doubles.Luverne 5, Pipestone 2Solid play by all three doubles teams led the Cardinals to a three-point, non-conference win over the Arrows in Pipestone Thursday.Luverne’s doubles teams won all three matches without losing a set, giving the Cardinals their margin of victory in the match."Our doubles teams played well as usual," said LHS coach Antoine. "We are 8-2 in regular matches (not counting tournaments), and our doubles teams are 24-6 in those matches. Doubles is where we are winning a lot of matches."Luverne’s No. 1 doubles team of Althoff and Deragisch topped Nick Wieme and Greg Mitchell by 6-4 and 6-2 tallies. Kreuch and Fletcher saddled Richie Petersen and Erik Hendricksen with a pair of 6-0 setbacks at No. 2. Maine and Nick Heronimus thumped Chad Vander Poel and Pavel Nikolov by 6-1 and 6-0 scores at No. 3.Dusty Antoine used patience to best previously undefeated Damian Weets in a three-set match at No. 1 singles. Antoine prevailed by 7-6 (7-3 in the tiebreaker), 2-6, 6-4 tallies. Boeve notched a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jamie Gustafson at No. 3.Pipestone’s points came from Paul Williamson and David Janssen at No. 2 and No. 4 singles respectively. Williamson topped Bennett by 6-4 and 6-3 scores. Janssen bested Nelson by 6-3 and 6-1 tallies.
