Luverne's Dusty Antoine (left) comes up empty after taking a swipe at this ball during Monday's home tennis match against Pipestone-Jasper. Pat Bennett (right) covers his double partner by returning the shot during a 5-2 LHS victory.
By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne tennis team appears to be picking up steam as the regular season winds down.
The Cardinals are owners of a three-match winning streak after beating Pipestone-Jasper by three points and Martin County West by one point in home matches played Monday and Tuesday respectively.
Luverne, 7-7 overall, plays at the Southwest Conference Tournament in Redwood Falls today. The Cards open Section 3A team competition at a site to be determined Monday.
Luverne 4, MCW 3
A strong effort by Luverne's doubles teams set the stage to a one-point home win over the Mavericks Tuesday.
The Cardinals went 1-3 in singles competition, but the LHS doubles teams swept MCW to set the stage for victory.
The No. 1 team of Dan Voigt and Tom Bouwman secured a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win over Phil Johnson and Andy Schieber.
Dusty Antoine and Pat Bennett posted 6-2 and 6-0 wins over Chris Kuehl and David Anderson at No. 2, and Trevor Maine and Chris Vickery topped Josh Richter and Nate Janssen by 6-4 and 6-2 scores at No. 3.
Barry Hoogland won at No. 1 singles for LHS. He bested Alister Olson by a pair of 6-0 scores.
MCWÕs Brad Oelkers bested Kyle Fletcher by 7-6 and 6-4 tallies at No. 2 singles, Matt Harbitz was a 6-2, 6-0 victor against John Kreuch at No. 3, and Riley Carlson handed Dan Boen 6-4 and 6-3 setbacks at No. 4.
Luverne 5, P-J 2
The Cardinals bested the 2002 Southwest Conference champions when they topped the Arrows by three points in Luverne Monday.
P-J beat LHS by the same score in Pipestone May 2 in what was deemed the conference clash between the teams.
Luverne received some payback for the loss by sweeping the Arrows in doubles competition and splitting the singles tests Monday.
Doubles play turned out to be the key to victory for LHS.
Dusty Antoine and Pat Bennett pulled out a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Scott Vander Poel and Pat Williamson at No. 1, and the Cards swept the matches at No. 2 and 3.
Steven Althoff and Kyle Fletcher nailed down 7-6 and 6-4 wins against Casey Carmody and Lance Kollman at No. 2, and Chris Vickery and Trevor Maine posted 6-1 and 7-5 victories over David Janssen and Aaron Prunty at No. 3.
Barry Hoogland and Dan Boen posted singles wins for the Cards. Hoogland downed Pat Wieme 6-4 and 6-3 at No. 1, and Boen saddled Greg Mitchell with a pair of 6-0 setbacks at No. 4.
P-J's Mike Janssen secured a 7-6, 6-1 win over Dan Voigt at No. 2 singles, while Arrow Damian Weets notched a 6-7, 6-2, 7-2 win over Tom Bouwman at No. 3.