Luverne senior Kyle Fletcher concentrates on the ball during a home match against Sioux Falls O’Gorman’s junior varsity team Wednesday, April 28. The Knights handed the Cardinals their second setback of the season during the match.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne tennis team was put to a test of playing in four events during a seven-day span.The Cardinals lost a home match to Sioux Falls O’Gorman’s junior varsity squad Wednesday, April 28 before topping Redwood Valley in a Southwest Conference match played in Luverne Tuesday. The Cardinals went 2-1 at the St. James Tournament Saturday, and completed the stretch with a win in Worthington Tuesday.Luverne, 9-3 overall, will remain busy by playing in Pipestone today and at the Benson Tournament Saturday before hosting Worthington Monday.Luverne 6,Worthington 1The Cardinals rolled to a five-point victory when they played the Trojans in a non-conference match in Worthington Tuesday.LHS swept the hosts in singles play and went 2-1 in doubles to win the match convincingly."Our singles players really did a nice job," said LHS coach Greg Antoine. "They went out and played up to their ability. They were patient and got the job done. Our doubles teams hung in there and got the job done, but we did make it hard on ourselves."All of Luverne’s singles wins came in straight sets.Dusty Antoine notched a pair of 6-0 wins over Jordan Willemssen at No. 1, Patrick Bennett notched 6-0 and 6-1 wins against Cody Neyens at No. 2, Derek Boeve recorded 6-2 and 6-1 victories over Tim Miller at No. 3, and David Nelson topped Quentin Dudley by 6-4 and 6-1 scores at No. 4.Luverne’s No. 2 doubles team consisting of John Kreuch and Kyle Fletcher recorded a 6-0, 6-7 (3-7 in the tiebreaker), 6-4 victory over Ben Clark and Justin Langseth. Chris Vickery and Nick Heronimus won a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 match from Tim Roos and Kale Calvin at No. 3.Worthington’s point came at No. 1 doubles, where Jason Johnson and Nate Peterson handed Steven Althoff and Brandon Deragisch a 7-6 (7-3 in the tiebreaker), 6-3 setback."If we went to go on and play well in the postseason like we want to, we need to improve," Antoine added. "The two things I see right now are serving better, and finishing points. There were a number of times when we could have put points away in this match, but we didn’t, and they got the points. We need to get those type of points against good teams, or it will come back and hurt us."St. James tourneyThe Cardinals went 2-1 and placed second during Saturday’s four-team tournament in St. James.Luverne posted 6-1 and 5-2 victories over Yellow Medicine East and Cannon Falls during the first two rounds of the event. Host St. James topped the Cardinals 5-2 in the finale."We played well," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "Our match with St. James was really close. They won three tiebreakers, and we won one. We just needed to finish off a few more points."One Luverne singles player and one LHS doubles team went 3-0 during the tournament.Boeve won all three of his matches at No. 4 doubles. He recorded 5-1 and 5-3 wins over YME’s Eric Dubbelde, he registered 5-2 and 5-1 wins over CF’s Micah Pfohl, and he topped SJ’s Josh Doll 1-5, 6-5 (7-4 in the tiebreaker) and won the super tiebreaker by a 10-6 count.The No. 3 doubles team of Trevor Maine and Heronimus also went 3-0.They topped YME’s Colin Bennett and Eric Lynner by 6-4 and 5-1 tallies, they coasted to a pair of 5-0 wins over CF’s Bobby DeLanghe and Petey Brown, and they posted a pair of 5-2 wins against SJ’s Adrian Reyes and Nathan Jurgens.Luverne’s Dusty Antoine, Bennett and Fletcher all went 1-3 at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles respectivley.Althoff and Deragisch posted a 2-1 record at No. 1 doubles. John Kreuch and Nelson went 2-1 at No. 2.Luverne’s Zach Sanderson and Matt Kreuch went 3-0 in exhibition play. They recorded a pair of 5-2 wins against a team from YME, they prevailed by 5-1 and 5-3 scores against CF, and notched 5-3 and 5-1 victories against SJ.Luverne 7, RWV 0The Cardinals moved within one win of locking up the Southwest Conference championship by defeating Redwood Valley in Luverne Thursday.The win upped Luverne’s SWC record to 2-0 with a seven-point sweep of RWV. The Cards can wrap up the league title with a home win over Worthington Monday."We were very aggressive and took charge right away in a lot of the matches," said Cardinal coach Antoine. "This was the first 7-0 win we’ve had since I’ve been coach, and it was fun to watch. It’s very rewarding as a coach to watch your players play that well."All of Luverne’s wins came in straight sets.Antoine bested Reed Larson by 6-0 and 6-3 scores at No. 1 singles, Bennett topped Jordan Boushek by 6-1 and 6-0 tallies at No. 2, Boeve handed Devan Blaine 6-1 and 7-5 setbacks at No. 3, and Nelson recorded 6-1 and 7-5 wins over Drew Draeger at No. 4.Althoff and Deragisch notched a 7-6 (7-5 in the tiebreaker) and 6-1 victory over Dave Sandvold and Daylon Tiffany at No. 1 doubles. John Kreuch and Fletcher topped Mike Pendleton and Sean Ferguson by 6-2 and 6-1 scores at No. 2. Chris Vickery and Maine upended Justin Thiel and Dan Stephens by 6-1 and 7-5 counts at No. 3."It’s so nice to have seniors in five of the six doubles spots," Antoine offered. "It’s nice to have that luxury, and it’s a luxury most coaches don’t have."O’Gorman JV 7,Luverne 0A talented junior varsity squad representing Sioux Falls O’Gorman dominated play during a 7-0 win over the Cardinals in Luverne Wednesday, April 28.The Knights won six of seven points in straight sets during a performance that impressed LHS coach Antoine."They are very good," he said. "They were hitting the corners, they were very aggressive and they didn’t miss any shots. The key was they didn’t make any unforced errors."Luverne’s lone set win came at No. 2 doubles. After dropping a 6-3 decision to Steve Dix and Mike Billion in the first set, Luverne’s Deragisch and Althoff evened the match with a 6-4 victory in the second set. The O’Gorman squad won the battle by securing a 7-6 win (7-3 in the tiebreaker) victory in the third set.O’Gorman’s Kevin Brennan and Dan Philippe posted 6-3 and 6-0 wins over Fletcher and Nelson at No. 1 doubles. Phil Amor and Matt Rippe topped Vickery and Nick Heronimus by 6-0 and 6-1 scores at No. 3.Andrew Rance downed Dusty Antoine by 6-3 and 6-1 scores at No. 1 singles, Matej Kaiwicka handed Bennett 6-1 and 6-3 setbacks at No. 2, Jon Swanson bested Boeve by 6-3 and 6-2 scores at No. 3, and Matt Finnegan notched a pair of 6-2 wins over Maine at No. 4.