Luverne splits tennis tests with Brandon, Marshall

The Luverne tennis team remained at the .500 mark for the season after splitting two matches at different sites.Luverne secured a three-point home win over Brandon Valley Thursday. The Cardinals dropped a three-point match decision Monday in Marshall.The 3-3 Cards play Yellow Medicine East in Pipestone Saturday before traveling to Worthington Tuesday.Marshall 5, Luverne 2The Cards slipped to 1-2 in Southwest Conference play after falling by three points Monday in Marshall.LHS won a pair of singles matches, but a talented Tiger team captured the remaining five points on their home courts."We played very well against a good Marshall team," said LHS coach Greg Antoine."Normally, the bus ride on a Monday does us in, but we really came ready to play. We took advantage of some of their errors and made good points out of them."Luverne’s Alyssa Klein and Tabitha Sanderson produced wins at No. 2 and No. 4 singles.After dropping the first set (6-7, 5-7 in the tiebreaker) to Courtney St. Aubin, Klein rallied to record 7-5 and 6-3 wins in the final two sets. Sanderson fell 2-6 in the first set against Eryn Dunlap before posting a pair of 6-3 wins to earn a team point.Marshall’s Rachelle Kunde saddled Samantha Gacke with a pair of 6-4 losses at first singles, and Jess Henderson topped Kaitlyn Deragisch 6-3, 6-2 at third singles.All three doubles matches went to MHS.Kristi Clark and Kiki Lecy bested Amy Herman and Krista Van Dyk 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 at No. 1, Dani Louwagie and Bethany Arends notched 6-0 and 6-3 victories over Whitney Maine and Maleeka Sandager at No. 2 and Sarah Schneekloth and Kristi Ziegenhagen earned 6-1 and 6-0 wins against Anissa Hanson and Kelby Robinson at No. 3.Luverne 5, BV 2The adjusting of the lineup paid off for the Cardinals when they posted a three-point home win over the Lynx Thursday.Luverne used new combinations in all three doubles slots and had two new players competing at singles, and two others playing at different singles positions."We needed a change," said Cardinal coach Antoine."I needed to see what some of the girls could do in different situations."Klein and Deragisch played their first matches at No. 1 and No. 2 singles this season. Klein handed Ashley Ruben a pair of 6-3 setbacks, while Deragisch saddled Megan Taggert with a pair of 6-4 losses.Luverne also received a 5-7, 6-1, 10-4 (the third set was a super tiebreaker) from Van Dyk, who played her first No. 4 singles match against Becky Duncan.Gacke and Herman teamed up to record 6-1 and 6-2 wins over BV’s Jessica Ramse and Megan Maassen at first doubles, while Hanson and Alex Lovett notched a 7-6 (7-1 in the tiebreaker), 6-1 victory at third doubles over Becky Bly and Cassie Zomer.BV’s Ally VanderWeide topped Sandager 6-2 and 6-3 at third singles. Alyce Haugen and Jami Koens prevailed by 6-2 and 6-3 tallies against Maine and Sanderson at second doubles.