By John RittenhouseTwo doubles teams provided the highlights at the 2004 debut for the Luverne High School tennis team.The Cardinals made their annual appearance at the Worthington Invitational to open the season Tuesday.Luverne’s No. 1 and No. 4 doubles teams posted three wins each against squads representing Worthington, Pipestone and Martin County West High Schools."We had a very encouraging day," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "We beat some girls who I didn’t think we would be able to beat. I thought our girls were very aggressive, and that’s what you need to be in tennis. You need to force the issue."Coasting through the No. 1 doubles field for LHS were Brittany Boeve and Andraya Gacke. They handed Worthington’s Sam Tate and JoAnn Loosbrock a pair of 5-2 setbacks, topped Pipestone’s Lauren Jones and Tracy Eerne by 5-1 and 5-0 scores, and notched 5-1 and 5-2 wins over MCW’s Melanie Schweiss and Jessica Dreesen.Robin Madtson and Amy Herman posted three straight wins at No. 4 doubles. They saddled Worthington’s Kelsey Toso and Meghan Knigge with 5-2 and 5-1 losses, they handed Pipestone’s Heather Manderscheid and Amy Keller a pair of 5-3 setbacks, and posted 5-3 and 5-1 wins against MCW’s Kristie Gaalswyk and Ashley Hansen.Luverne’s Samantha Gacke, Alyssa Klein and Nikki Van Dyk, and the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams placed second with 2-1 records.Playing at No. 1 singles, Gacke blanked Worthington’s Megan Ahlquist in a pair of 5-0 sets before besting Pipestone’s Tory Hess by 6-4 and 6-1 counts. MCW’s Megan Biehm topped Gacke by 5-1 and 5-3 scores.Klein handed Worthington’s Shelly Morrow 5-2 and 5-1 losses at No. 1 singles before beating Pipestone’s Abby Brady by 5-2 and 5-3 scores. MCW’s Cailey Grupe bested Klein by 6-4 and 5-1 scores in the final match.Van Dyk, playing at No. 3 singles, beat Worthington’s Kassi Buysman 1-5, 6-5 (7-3 in the tie-breaker) before winning 7-1 in the tiebreaker played for the third set. Van Dyk saddled Pipestone’s Christy Cunningham with a pair of 5-3 setbacks before losing 5-1 and 5-3 sets to MCW’s Stephanie Biehn.Luverne’s Heidi Sandbulte and Jessica Klein placed second at No. 2 doubles, as did the No. 3 team of Lindsey Severtson and Katie Kraetsch.Sandbulte and Klein notched a 5-3, 2-5, 7-4 win over Worthington’s Jessica Loosbrock and Raquel Leinen before falling by a 2-5, 5-3, 3-7 tally to Pipestone’s Britt Sendelbach and Allison Zollner in the second round. The Luverne team bounced back to beat MCW’s Shannon McConnell and Krista Weiss by 5-1 scores in the third match.Severtson and Kraetsch beat Worthington’s Leah McCuen and Janne Morrow by 5-2 and 5-3 scores before falling to Pipestone’s Carolyn Cooper and Tonya Rudie by 5-2 scores in the second round. The LHS squad topped MCW’s Emily Schleuk and Jenna Kuehl by 5-1 scores in the finale.Luverne’s Kaitlyn Deragisch went 1-2 and placed third at fourth singles."This is a nice tournament to see where you are at after the first week of practice," Antoine said. "You can see where your strengths and weaknesses are and find out where you need to go from here."Luverne, which played in a doubles tournament in St. James Wednesday, Aug. 25, plays at a tournament in Fairmont Friday. The Cards play Yellow Medicine East at noon Monday in Pipestone before hosting Sioux Falls Lincoln at 4 p.m. Tuesday.