By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne girls' tennis team opened the 2002 season by competing at the Worthington Pre-Season Tournament Tuesday.
The Cardinals had a successful outing in two ways.
Luverne went 2-1 in match play, and a pair of Cardinal singles' players captured individual crowns.
"I think it went well," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "They gave medals to the top three finishers in their divisions, and all of our girls came home with medals. I was pleased with the way our girls played."
Luverne opened team competition by rolling to a 6-2 win over the host team. After dropping a 6-2 decision to Pipestone-Jasper, the Cards bounced back to record a 7-1 victory over Martin County West.
Becky Antoine and Gabe Van Dyk came away with individual titles at No. 1 and No. 3 singles respectively.
Antoine recorded an 8-3 win over Worthington's Lisa Jackson, an 8-5 victory over P-J's Cassandra Van Vliet and an 8-1 pounding of MCW's Megan Biehen.
Van Dyk topped Worthington's Lindsey Radloff by an 8-5 margin, She bested P-J's Tory Hess 8-2 and coasted to an 8-0 victory over MCW’s Kelsey Krueger.
Cardinals Rachel Tofteland and Brittany Boeve placed second at No. 2 and No. 4 singles respectively with 2-1 records, and the No. 1 doubles team of Jenny Braa and Lexi Jauert went 2-1 to place second.
Luverne’s No. 2 doubles team of Samantha Gacke and Nikki Van Dyk, No. 3 squad of Aylssa Klein and Andraya Gacke, and the No. 4 team of Kaitlyn Deragisch and Bailey Scholten all placed third with 1-2 records.
Samantha Gacke, Klein and Deragisch played their first varsity matches at the event.
"Other than our four seniors, almost everyone else was playing girls who were older than they were. We're looking to get some experience right now. We may take some beatings down the road, but we should learn something every time out," Antoine said.
The Cards play at the Sentinel Tournament in Fairmont tomorrow, they play Yellow Medicine East in Pipestone Monday, and they host Brandon Valley Tuesday.