By John RittenhouseThe Luverne tennis team opened the 2003 campaign by splitting a pair of Southwest Conference matches on the road.Luverne fell by five points in Pipestone Thursday before winning by five points in Worthington Tuesday.The 1-1 Cardinals host Yellow Medicine East Tuesday.Luverne 6,Worthington 1The Cardinals handled the challenge offered by windy conditions while besting the Trojans by five points in Worthington Tuesday.Luverne was able to sweep a young Trojan team in singles play and went 2-1 in doubles during the victory."The kids played pretty well in the wind," said LHS coach Greg Antoine. "The wind affected a lot of shots, but the kids overcame it and played pretty well.’Cardinal singles players won in straight sets as Dusty Antoine handed Nate Peterson a pair of 6-2 setbacks at No. 1, Patrick Bennett posted 6-0 wins over Quenten Dudley at No. 2, Kyle Fletcher saddled Jaime Kass with a pair of 6-1 setbacks at No. 3 and David Nelson recorded a 6-0, 6-1 win over John Shepherd at No. 4.Luverne’s Steven Althoff and Chris Vickery notched a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Cody Neyens and Jordan Willemssen at No. 1 doubles. Cardinals John Kreuch and Derek Boeve prevailed by 6-1 and 6-2 scores over Derek Ahlberg and Kale Calvin at No. 2.Worthington’s No. 3 doubles team of Tim Miller and Jason Johnson handed Trevor Maine and Jamison Tooley a pair of 6-2 losses to account for the host’s lone team point of the match.Pipestone 6, Luverne 1The Cardinals took on SWC favorite Pipestone to open the season Thursday in Pipestone.The defending league champion Arrows showed they will be a force to contend with after saddling the Cards with a five-point setback.Pipestone swept the three doubles matches from LHS and went 3-1 in singles.Luverne’s win came at No. 4 singles, where Boeve played his first varsity match. Boeve handed Daniel Armijes 7-5 and 6-0 setbacks.Pipestone’s Florian Brahnkamp topped Dusty Antoine by 6-1 and 6-2 tallies at No. 1 singles, Mike Janssen won a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 match over Bennett at No. 2, and Damian Weets posted 6-0 and 6-2 victories over Fletcher at No. 3.The Arrows won the doubles matches in straight sets.Scott Vander Poel and Patrick Wieme handed Althoff and Vickery a pair of 6-0 losses at No. 1, Casey Carmody and Paul Williamson downed Kreuch and Nelson by 6-3 and 6-4 scores at No. 2, and Aaron Prunty and Dave Janssen saddled Daniel Amborn and Tooley with a pair of 6-0 setbacks in their varsity tennis debut at No. 3.Cardinal coach Greg Antoine said more practice time and better serving should help Luverne’s fortunes in the future."It looked like we hadn’t practiced in a while, and we didn’t because of the cold and snow. We did some nice things, but there still are some things we need to work on like getting our first serves in," he said.
