Luverne junior Jenny Braa returens a ball during Tuesday's first home tennis match of the season against Brandon Valley.
By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne tennis team was put to a test of playing in four events during a six-day span that started last Thursday.
The Cardinals played at doubles tournaments in St. James and Fairmont Thursday and Friday respectively before taking on Yellow Medicine East in Pipestone Monday. The stretch ended with a home match against Brandon Valley (S.D.) Tuesday.
Luverne, 3-2 overall, plays in Redwood Falls tomorrow before hosting Marshall Tuesday.
Luverne 6, BV 1
The Cards had little trouble disposing of the Lynx during Tuesday’s home opener for LHS.
Luverne swept the four singles matches in straight sets and went 2-1 in doubles to win by five points.
"It went pretty well," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "Everyone was focused, and they all played pretty well."
Luverne dominated singles play, where Becky Antoine posted 6-3 and 6-1 wins over Kristina Kuntze at No. 1, Rachel Tofteland notched a pair of 6-1 wins over Jamie Ver Meer at No. 2, Gabe Van Dyk recorded 6-0 and 6-2 wins over Connie Volgeman at No. 3, and Brittany Boeve secured 6-1 and 6-0 victories over Jillian Tucek at No. 4.
Playing at No. 1 doubles for LHS, Jenny Braa and Nikki Van Dyk saddled Jessica Wehrkamp and Hillary Green with 6-0 and 6-4 setbacks. Cardinals Alyssa Klein and Andraya Gacke topped Jillian Bright and Amber Schmidt by 7-5 and 6-2 counts at No. 3.
BV avoided a sweep when Hillary Rubin and Arin Kundtson bested Lexi Jauert and Samantha Gacke by 6-2 tallies at No. 2 doubles.
YME 4, Luverne 3
The Cardinals came up one point short when they played the Sting in a match in Pipestone Monday.
LHS received wins from two singles players and a doubles team, but the Cards were unable to get enough team points to swing the match in their favor.
"The girls played hard and well," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "We were down 3-2 while the final two matches were being played. We won one of them and lost the other."
Tofteland and Gabe Van Dyk notched Luverne's singles wins.
Tofteland was a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victor over Cassie Barber in the No. 2 slot. Van Dyk was awarded a point at No. 3 when YME's Ashley Bennett retired.
YME's Grete Peterson handed Antoine a pair of 6-2 setbacks at No. 1 singles, while teammate Kelly O'Connell topped Boeve by 0-6, 7-6 and 3-6 tallies.
Luverne's doubles win came from the No. 3 team of Klein and Andraya Gacke, who saddled Haley Bennett and Melissa Rasmussen with 6-4 and 6-2 setbacks.
YME's Brandee Bennett and Carly Barber bested Braa and Jauert by 6-4 and 6-1 scores at No. 1 doubles. Sting's Jessica Pederson and Jamie Enger nipped Nikki Van Dyk and Samantha Gacke by 7-5 and 7-6 margins at No. 2.
Fairmont tourney
The Cardinals secured one tournament championship and placed second as a team during Friday's doubles tournament in Fairmont.
The unique event attracted teams from the host school, Luverne, Worthington and Springfield.
Each school places two doubles teams into each of the tournament's three flights, where the teams play under a round-robin format. The total game wins by each doubles team are compiled to settle the flight championships, and the team title is decided by adding the total game wins produced by all of the school’s doubles teams during the tournament.
Fairmont won the team crown by receiving 190 wins from its six doubles squads. Luverne came in second with 161, Worthington third with 125 and Springfield fourth with 111.
Luverne was at its best in the Championship Flight, where the top doubles teams from each school were placed.
Luverne's Gabe Van Dyk won the flight title with 41 game wins, and Antoine and Tofteland placed second with 25 wins.
"We swept the Championship Flight by placing first and second," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "That was kind of nice. It was more than I expected."
Teams consisting of Nikki Van Dyk and Boeve, and Alyssa Klein and Samantha Gacke represented LHS in the Captain's Flight.
Van Dyk and Boeve placed fourth in the flight with 25 wins. Klein and Gacke finished fifth with 24 victories.
Teams consisting of Andraya Gacke and Kaitlyn Deragisch, and Anissa Hanson and Amy Herman played in the Mr. T’s flight for the Cardinals.
Gacke and Deragisch produced 23 wins to place fourth. Hanson and Herman finished seventh with 13 wins.
St. James tourney
The Cardinals played in a four-team, all-doubles tournament in St. James Thursday.
Luverne ended up going 0-2-1 as a team at the event.
The Cards battled Maple River to a draw at three games each. Luverne fell to Sibley East (2-4) and St. James (0-6).
Two LHS doubles teams went 2-1 for the day.
Antoine and Tofteland teamed up at No. 1. They posted 5-2 and 5-1 wins against SE before dropping 6-5 and 5-2 decisions to SJ. Antoine and Tofteland won their first set (5-1) against MR before falling 5-0 in the second set. A 7-2 victory in a tie-breaker gave the Cardinals the win.
Gabe Van Dyk and Braa went 2-1 at No. 2 doubles.
They beat the SE No. 2 team by 6-4 and 5-2 tallies in the first round. Braa and Van Dyk bounced back from a 5-1 loss in the first set to SJ before winning the second set by a 5-3 margin. SJ won the tie-breaker, 7-3. The Cardinals then lost a 6-4 decision to MR in the first set before evening the match with a 5-3 win in the second set. Braa and Van Dyk then won the tie-breaker, 7-5.
Herman and Hanson won their first doubles match as a team by 5-3 and 6-5 scores against MR. They came up short in their matches against SJ and SE.
Nikki Van Dyk and Samantha Gacke, Klein and Andaraya Gacke, and Deragisch and Bailey Scholten all went 0-3 at the event.