Luverne’s Trevor Maine completes a shot in No. 3 doubles play during Monday’s home tennis match against Brandon Valley.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne tennis team was put to a test of playing in four events in a six-day span.The 6-3 Cardinals posted a one-point win at Redwood Falls Thursday before going 2-1 at the St. James Tournament Saturday. Luverne dropped a one-point home match to Brandon (S.D.) Valley Monday before sweeping a seven-point home contest from Worthington Tuesday.Luverne will be busy again as it was scheduled to play at Sioux Falls O’Gorman yesterday, host Pipestone today, compete at the Benson Tournament Saturday and play in Blue Earth Tuesday.Luverne 7,Worthington 0The Cardinals swept the Trojans for the second time this season when the teams squared off in Luverne Tuesday.WHS, a young team consisting of players in the 10th grade or lower, proved to be no match for the more experienced Cardinals."We’re older and more experienced, and you could see that in all the matches," said LHS coach Greg Antoine.Cardinals’ Dusty Antoine, Patrick Bennett and David Nelson won their singles matches in straight sets. Antoine secured 6-0 and 6-1 wins over Jason Johnson at No. 1, Bennett notched 6-2 and 6-0 victories over Tim Miller at No. 2, and Nelson saddled John Shepherd with a pair of 6-0 setbacks at No. 4.Luverne’s Kyle Fletcher beat Kale Calvin 6-3 in the first set at No. 3 singles before Calvin secured a 6-4 win in the second set. The players settled the third set by playing a tie-breaker that Fletcher won by a 7-3 count.Luverne’s Steven Althoff and John Kreuch handed Derek Ahlberg and Quentin Dudley a pair of 6-1 losses at No. 2 doubles, and the No. 3 team of Trevor Maine and Weston Sawtelle posted 6-1 and 6-2 victories over Nick Walden and Jaime Kass.Worthington’s Nate Peterson and Jordan Willemssen posted a 6-3 win in the first set at No. 1 doubles against Chris Vickery and Derek Boeve. The Luverne team recovered to win the second and third sets by 7-5 and 6-2 tallies.BV 4, Luverne 3The Cardinals dropped their first home match of the season when they entertained Brandon (S.D.) Valley Monday.Luverne went 3-1 in singles, but the Lynx swept the doubles matches and posted one singles win to take the match."We came close," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "The kids who lost all played three-set matches. We had our chances."Luverne’s three singles wins came in straight sets. Dusty Antoine prevailed by 6-4 and 6-3 counts over Eric Rodenborn at No. 1, Fletcher secured 6-3 and 6-4 wins over Ian blue at No. 3, and Nelson notched 6-4 and 6-1 victories over Alex Van Hove at No. 4.BV’s Tom Engebretson secured a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles over Patrick Bennett.Luverne’s Althoff and Vickery opened their No. 1 doubles match with a 6-3 win over Josh Herr and Bryan Wehrkamp before dropping 7-5 and 6-2 decisions in sets two and three. BV’s Camden Nettestad and Brent Miller prevailed by a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 tally over Kreuch and Boeve at No. 2 doubles. Lynx’ Andrew Moe and Dustin Egger topped Maine and Daniel Amborn by a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 tally at No. 3.St. James tourneyThe Cardinals went 2-1 during Saturday’s four-team tournament in St. James.The host team blanked LHS 7-0 in the opening round, but the Cards bounced back to post 4-3 wins over Cannon Falls and Yellow Medicine East to complete the event.Considering LHS was playing without the services of five juniors, a 2-1 outing was a good one."It was a really good day for our seventh-graders," said LHS coach Greg Antoine. "The young kids gained a lot of experience, and you could see it in their play between the first and third matches of the day."Luverne’s Antoine and Boeve went 2-1 at No. 1 and No. 4 singles at the event. Nelson and Sawtelle went 2-1 at No. 1 doubles.After losing a 0-5, 6-4 (5-10 in the tie-breaker) to SJ’s Luke Thompson in the first round, Antoine came back to beat CF’s Alec Winter (5-3 and 5-1) and YME’s Nathan Marland (5-0 and 5-1).Boeve dropped a pair of 5-2 sets to SJ’s Brandon Busman before besting CF’s Ian Olson (5-0 and 5-2) and YME’s Jeff Ford (5-2 and 6-4).Nelson and Sawtelle came up on the short end of 5-2 and 5-1 scores against SJ’s Tom Rakotz and Travis Brekken in the first round. The Luverne team then posted a 2-5, 5-3 (10-6 in the tie-breaker) win over CF’s Tom Kaye and David Lindahl before downing YME’s Aaron Smith and Kyle Henderson 0-5 and 5-3 (10-8 in the tie-breaker).Luverne’s Bennett and Chris Vickery went 1-2 at No. 2 and No. 3 singles. The No. 2 doubles team of Zach Sanderson and Matt Kreuch went 0-3, as did the No. 3 team of Jamison Tooley and Jamie Vickery.Luverne 4, RWV 3The Cardinals assured themselves at least a second-place finish in the Southwest Conference when they edged Redwood Valley by one point in Redwood Falls Thursday.Luverne, which was playing without five juniors who had to honor prior commitments, won all four singles matches to win the match and finish SWC play with a 2-1 record."Our singles players really came through for us," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "Dusty (Antoine), Patrick (Bennett) and Chris (Vickey) played well and pretty much had their way with their opponents. Derek (Boeve) played well. His match was a little closer."Antoine saddled Drew Tribble with a pair of 6-2 setbacks at No. 1. Bennett and Boeve prevailed by 6-4 and 6-2 scores over Mike Alexander and Josh Okins at No. 2 and No. 4 respectively. Vickery secured 6-0 and 6-2 wins over Devan Blaine at No. 3.Luverne’s Sanderson and Matt Kreuch took Dan Stephens and Justin Thiel to three sets at No. 2 doubles before falling 7-5, 3-6, 1-6.RWV’s Reed Larson and Laron Schottenberger posted 6-1 and 6-0 wins over Nelson and Sawtelle at No. 1 doubles. RWV’s Jordan Maserek and Dave Sandvold posted 6-1 and 6-2 victories over Tooley and Jamie Vickery at No. 3.
