Luverne doubles team advances Tuesday

By John Rittenhouse
A Luverne High School doubles team has advanced to the semifinal round of the Section 3A Individual Tennis Championships.
Seniors Allana and Ashley Gacke, who were seeded No. 12 out of 18 teams for section doubles competition, pulled off a pair of upsets during the first two rounds of tournament play in Redwood Falls Tuesday.
The Gackes handed MACCRAY’s Grussing and Gustafson, the tournament’s No. 5 seed, a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 setback to open the event.
Lac qui Parle Valley’s Schoffman and Malecek were waiting for the Gackes in the quarterfinals, and the Cardinal players saddled the fourth-seeded team with a pair of 6-4 setbacks.
The Gackes will need to play another strong match when they face Yellow Medicine East’s Rasmusson and Baldry, the tournament’s No. 1-seeded doubles team, in Friday’s semifinals. The match will be played at 11 a.m. in St. Cloud.
Another Luverne doubles team and a pair of singles players ended their campaigns in Redwood Falls Tuesday.
Gabe Van Dyk and Patricia Willers, the No. 15 seed in doubles competition, handed Springfield’s Sara Grobner and Sonja Nelson 6-3 and 6-1 setbacks in a preliminary-round match before falling to MACCRAY’s Dammann and Minter by 6-4 and 6-2 scores in the next round.
Amanda Aning, seeded No. 4 in the singles tournament, posted a pair of 6-1 wins over Redwood Valley’s Linda Gano before falling by 6-3 and 6-1 scores to No. 5-seeded Kim Gardner of Montevideo.
Cardinal Becky Antoine, seeded No. 7, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Montevideo’s Haley Strand. Pipestone-Jasper’s Cassandra Van Vliet, the No. 2 seed, topped Antoine by 6-0 and 6-3 tallies in the quarterfinals.