By John RittenhouseThe Luverne tennis team ran its record to 3-0 by posting a pair of home wins since last Thursday.The Cardinals opened Southwest Conference play by besting Pipestone by three points Thursday. Luverne nipped Blue Earth Area by one point Monday.Luverne was scheduled to play a home match against Worthington Tuesday, but the event was postponed due to rain.The Cardinals will play road matches against Martin County West today, Brandon Valley Monday and Yellow Medicine East Tuesday.Luverne 4, BEA 3The Cardinals pulled out a one-point victory when they entertained Blue Earth Area in Luverne Monday.The Bucs bested LHS 6-1 when the teams met last year, but the Cards won two doubles matches and two singles tests to take Monday’s battle."Our depth really paid off for us," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "It went down to the third doubles match, where we played a sophomore and a senior against a seventh- and an eighth-grader. Having good depth will give you points like that, and points at No. 3 doubles count just as much as the other ones do."It was Steven Althoff and Nick Heronimus who came up big at No. 3 doubles for LHS. They secured a 6-1 and 7-5 victory over Dalton Moore and Matt Purvis.Luverne’s Chris Vickery and Brandon Deragisch posted a 7-6 (7-2 in the tiebreaker), 2-6, 6-2 win over Grant Holmseth and Ian Johnson at No. 2 doubles.Dusty Antoine and Patrick Bennett prevailed at No. 1 and No. 2 singles respectively for LHS. Antoine played 35 games against Jordan Becker before notching a 6-7 (3-7 in the tiebreaker), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4 in the tiebreaker) victory. Bennett upended Justin Frey 7-6 (7-2 in the tiebreaker), 6-1.BEA’s Jake Willette won a 6-2, 7-6 (7-0 in the tiebreaker) against Kyle Fletcher at No. 3 singles. Logan Becker posted a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Derek Boeve at No. 2.BEA’s first doubles team of Ty Mastin and Ben Jacke won a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 decision over John Kreuch and David Nelson.Luverne 5, Pipestone 2The Cardinals opened league play by defeating defending SWC and Section 3A champion Pipestone by three points in Luverne Thursday.Luverne split four singles matches with the Arrows, but the Cardinals dominated doubles competition by winning all three contests in straight sets."The difference was our experience," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "We have a lot of experience in doubles, and they have a bunch of seniors who didn’t see varsity action last season. It was our experience against their inexperience."Kreuch and Nelson posted 6-2 and 6-4 wins over Pipestone’s Nick Wieme and Greg Mitchell at No. 1 doubles. Althoff and Deragisch handed Pavel Nikolov and Rich Peterson 6-0 and 6-1 setbacks at No. 2 doubles, and Vickery and Weston Sawtelle posted a pair of 6-0 wins over Paul Prunty and Chad Vanderpoel at No. 3.All four singles matches went three sets, including a two-hour plus battle between Luverne’s Boeve and Jaime Gustafson at No. 2. Boeve won the match 7-6 (7-2 in the tiebreaker), 6-7 (3-7 in the tiebreaker) and 7-6 (10-8 in the tiebreaker).Luverne’s Dusty Antonie posted a 6-4, 6-7 (4-7 in the tiebreaker), 6-2 win over Paul Williamson at No. 2 singles.Pipestone’s Damian Weets secured a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Bennett at No. 1 singles. David Janssen topped Fletcher 6-2, 6-7 (3-7 in the tiebreaker), 6-4 at No. 3.
