Cardinals fall to Benson in tennis semifinals

Cardinals fall to Benson in semifinals
For the Luverne Cardinals, the Section 3A team tennis tournament came to an end Wednesday, Oct. 6, when LHS lost to Benson/Kerkhoven-Murdoch-Sunburg in the semifinals by a 4-3 score.
Luverne had defeated Yellow Medicine East 7-0 in the quarterfinals on Oct. 4 to set up the Benson/KMS match.
The first two rounds of the individual portion of Section 3A tennis will start Thursday in Sioux Falls and will finish next Tuesday in St. Peter.
LHS will send two singles players and two doubles teams to compete for a chance to make it to the state tournament.
 
Luverne 7, YME 0
In the YME road match, Luverne was able to win all of the matches in straight sets.
Mia Wenzel defeated Hope Stark by 6-1, 6-0 scores at No. 1 singles. Jacey Smith beat Kyra Kvan 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. At No. 3 singles Sarah Stegenga won with scores of 6-2, 6-1 over Hope Foy. Roselynn Hartshorn beat Abigail Jimenez 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles. 
In the doubles matches, Luverne also won all the matches in straight sets. 
Olivia Wieneke and Kristin Rud defeated Katelyn Luepke and Emma Keller by 6-0, 6-0 scores. At No. 2 doubles, Hope Thorson and Katharine Kelm beat Reagan Streich and Breen Johnson also by 6-0, 6-0 scores. Tori Hemme and Priscilla Muehr won by 6-2, 6-1 scores over Annelise Jahn and Sarana West.
“YME is a very young team and we had beaten them earlier in the year 7-0,” said LHS coach Jon Beers.
“It could have been very easy for the girls to not put much effort into their matches, but they came ready to play, and I was really proud of all the girls.”
 
Benson 4, Luverne 3
In the Benson/KMS match Wednesday, LHS came up one match short, losing 4-3. 
In singles play, Wenzel defeated Elise Duncan 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1 singles. Jacey Smith lost to Hanna Helms at No. 2 singles, 6-3, 6-0, and Stegenga was beaten by Elle Kletscher 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles. Roselynn Hartshorn defeated Addy Dejoy 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4 singles.
Wieneke and Rud were able to defeat Eleanor Habben 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles. At No. 2 doubles Thorson and Kelm lost to Bella Quisbey and Lily Miller 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Hemme and Muehr were defeated 7-6, 7-5 at No. 3 doubles by Alanna Heftrel and Kya Oakes.
“Our goal was to get to state, and we came up short,” said Beers. “I think the girls had a very good season as a team, and not making it to state does not change that one bit.”