By John RittenhouseThe Luverne tennis team was put to the test of playing in four events in a seven-day span.The Cardinals competed at doubles tournaments in St. James and Fairmont Wednesday, Aug. 20, and Friday respectively.Luverne then dropped a seven-point match against Yellow Medicine East in Pipestone Monday before posting a three-point win over Brandon Valley in Brandon, S.D., Tuesday.The 1-1 Cardinals host Redwood Valley for an 11 a.m. match Friday before playing at Sioux Falls Lincoln Tuesday.Luverne 6, BV 3The Cardinals recorded their first team victory of the season in Brandon, S.D., Tuesday.Luverne won four of six singles matches and took two of three doubles tests to topple the Lynx on their home court.Samantha Gacke, Alyssa Klein, Kaitlyn Deragisch and Jessica Klein posted singles wins for the Cards.Gacke and Deragisch notched 10-6 victories over Hilary Green and Jill Tucek in the No. 1 and No. 4 slots. Alyssa Klein blanked Arin Kundtson 10-0 at No. 3. After falling behind 7-2 against Ashley Rubin at No. 6 singles, Jessica Klein rallied to steal an 11-9 victory.BV’s Julia Lappe handed Brittany Boeve a 10-5 setback at No. 2 singles. Lynx’ Jamie Vermeer downed Andraya Gacke 10-4 at No. 5.Samantha Gacke and Boeve teamed up at No. 1 doubles and recorded a 10-3 victory over Green and Lappe. Alyssa Klein and Heidi Sandbulte won 10-3 over Knudtson and Tucek at No. 2.BV’s Vermeer and Rubin bested Katie Kraetsch and Lindsey Severtson by a 10-6 decision at No. 3 doubles."The girls played well," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "Samantha (Gacke) and Alyssa (Klein) took control and kept control of their matches. Brittany (Boeve) lost, but she was playing their best player. Jessica (Klein) came back as far as anyone can to win her match. I think all of the doubles tournaments we played in last week helped our doubles players today. All three teams played well."YME 7, Luverne 0The Cardinals were unable to post a match victory when they took on Yellow Medicine East in Pipestone Monday.Luverne had to mix up its lineup to cover the absence of a singles player, and that played a role in the outcome."We were missing Nikki Van Dyk in singles," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "We had a lot of players playing in different positions, and that makes a big difference in tennis."The highlights of the match for Luverne turned out to be set wins posted by the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams.After dropping a 6-3 decision to Jessie Pederson and Michelle Miller at No. 2 doubles, Luverne’s Jessica Klein and Heidi Sandbulte evened the match with a 6-4 victory in the second set. The YME team won a 7-2 decision in the tiebreaker that was used to settle the third set.Luverne’s Lindsey Severtson and Katie Kraetsch fell by a 6-2 tally in the first set of the No. 3 doubles match against Hailey Bennett and Meghan Bredeson. The Luverne team won the second set 7-6 after posting a 7-3 victory in the tie-breaker for the set. The YME team won a super tie-breaker by a 10-4 margin to take the third set.YME’s Cassie Barber and Jessica Oloove secured 6-1 and 6-0 wins over Jenny Braa and Andraya Gacke at No. 1 doubles.The Sting won all the singles matches in straight sets.Ashley Bennett topped Samantha Gacke by 6-1 and 6-4 scores at No. 1, Jamie Euger nailed down 6-0 and 6-1 wins over Brittany Boeve at No. 2, Kelly O’Connell bested Alyssa Klein by 6-4 and 6-1 tallies at No. 3, and Melissa Rasmussen notched 6-1 and 6-3 wins over Kaitlyn Deragisch at No. 4."One thing I noticed about our play was we need to be more aggressive. I saw the kids were trying to use strategies, but they just couldn’t get it done," Antoine said.Fairmont tourneyThe Cardinals placed third as a team during Friday’s doubles tournament in Fairmont.The host school took top honors in the event and was followed in order by Worthington, Luverne and Springfield."I thought our girls really played well in Fairmont," Antoine said. "We started doing some of the things we’ve been working on in practice. Now we just need more practice."Samantha Gacke and Brittany Boeve provided the highlight of the day by placing second in the championship flight. The Luverne squad won 32 games, finishing second behind a Fairmont team that won 34 games.Nikki Van Dyk and Alyssa Klein also played in the championship flight, winning 21 games to place fifth.Cardinals’ Kaitlyn Deragisch and Andraya Gacke won 26 games to place third in the second flight. Heidi Sandbulte and Jessica Klein finished sixth in the same flight with 20 wins.Lindsey Severtson and Amy Herman posted 25 wins to place fourth in the third flight. Whitney Maine and Katie Kraetsch tied for fifth place in the third flight with 17 wins.St. James tourneyThe Cardinals dropped three matches during a doubles tournament in St. James Wednesday, Aug. 21.Luverne came up on the short end of 7-1, 8-0 and 5-3 scores against Sibley East, the host team and Maple River respectively, but the Cardinals did earn something in the process."We gained a lot of good experience," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "We won a lot of the games, but we just didn’t come out on top in the matches. Hopefully, we learned some things that we can build on down the road."Luverne’s No. 1 doubles team of Brittany Boeve and Samantha Gacke had a successful day that featured winning two of three matches.Boeve and Gacke posted a 5-1, 1-5, 10-3 (super tie-breaker) against a team from SE before dropping a 2-5, 5-2, 10-5 (super tiebreaker) match to SJ. They beat the MR team by a 5-3, 2-5, 10-7 (super tie-breaker) decision.Cardinals Nikki Van Dyk and Kalina Vander Poel won their match against MR by scores of 5-2 and 5-3 at No. 2 doubles. Luverne’s No. 7 team notched a 1-5, 5-3, 13-11 (super tiebreaker) during the match against MR.
