By John RittenhouseA Luverne High School doubles team went 1-1 at the Minnesota State Class A Tennis Championships staged at the Northwest Athletic Club in Burnsville Thursday.Senior Patrick Bennett and junior Dusty Antoine advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Class A Doubles Championship Series by winning their first match of the event.The season came to an end for the Luverne team players in the quarterfinals, where they dropped a match in straight sets."Our goal was to get past the first round, and they did it," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "Like the boys said (after the first match), it was nice to go back (to the site) in the afternoon and need to bring their racquets."The Cardinals needed to keep track of their equipment after winning a three-set match against Mound-Westonka’s Brett Ahlness and Mitchell Turner in the first round.Bennett and Antoine rolled to a 6-2 win in the opening set before the M-W team battled back to secure a 6-1 victory in the second set. The Cardinals regained their winning form to post a 6-2 win in the third set."The kids played a really nice first match," coach Antoine said. "They were clicking, with the exception of the second set. Then they came out and won the first three games of the third set and never looked back."The Luverne squad met a Thief River Falls’ team of Chris Mickelson and Michael Forney in the quarterfinals.Mickelson and Forney, who eventually placed fourth, handed the LHS team 6-3 and 6-4 setbacks."There was a one-hour break between the first and second matches, and it seemed like we didn’t have the energy we needed. Neither boy got a real good night’s sleep on Wednesday because they were excited, and that came into play in the second match. We just didn’t play our A game."This was the second straight year Bennett and Antoine played in the state classic as a doubles team. They went 0-1 last season.
