The Luverne boys’ tennis team suffered three consecutive setbacks to end the regular season before securing a solid victory in the quarterfinals of the section team tournament during a busy week.
The Cardinals lost a close contest to St. Peter 4-3 on Wednesday, May 18, in the Big South Conference championship meet.
On Saturday, May 21, Luverne went 0-2 at a tournament in St. James.
“We used these meets to try out a few different lineups and changes before our section tournament this week,” said LHS head coach Lucas Larson.
“That being said, the day should have gone better for us,” Larson said on Saturday.
“We need to put these meets behind us and look forward to section play this week. If we take care of our business, then all will be well.”
The Cardinals did just that when they opened section play with a decisive 7-0 victory over MACCRAY Monday afternoon in Luverne.
LHS traveled to Redwood Falls for the team section semi-final and championship meets on Tuesday after this edition of the Star Herald went to press.
Section individual tournament play is scheduled to begin today (Thursday) in Redwood Falls.
St Peter 5, Luverne 2
For the second time in four days, the Luverne Cardinals faced the St. Peter Saints. And for the second time in as many days, the Saints came away with the win.
St. Peter defeated LHS 5-2 in the first meet of the day Saturday in St. James.
Coach Lucas Larson said the team used a different lineup to give players an opportunity to face competition at new positions they may play during the section individual tournament.
Luverne’s Pierce Cunningham defeated Marty Anderson 7-5, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.
At No. 2 singles, St. Peter’s Fede Zimmermann bested Ethan Nath in a close match 5-7, 7-6 (6), 10-4.
Parker Carbonneau of Luverne lost to Colton Abels 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3 singles and Luverne’s Hunter Gaffaney lost by the same score to Ezekiel Ribar at No. 4 singles.
Cardinals Blake Frahm and Griffen Jarchow played doubles for the first time this season and defeated Cooper Dean and Anders Dixon 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 at No. 1 doubles.
At No. 2 doubles, Ben Taylor and Will Elias won over Luverne’s Chance Tunnissen and Logan Ommen 6-3, 6-4.
Kyle Ferguson and Jase Arp of Luverne lost 6-4, 6-3 to Tyson Schmitz and Quinn Dixon 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 doubles.
St. James 4, Luverne 3
Luverne lost its second meet of the day when the Cardinals dropped a close 4-3 contest to St. James Saturday afternoon.
St. James won three of the four singles matches, while Luverne won two of the three doubles contests.
At No. 1 singles, Cunningham defeated Andrei Rivera 6-2, 4-6, 10-5.
Nath lost 4-6, 6-4, 10-3 to Brennan Kern at No. 2 singles, and Carbonneau came up short to Vince Brown 5-7, 6-2, 10-4 at No. 3 singles.
Ross Bergman of Luverne lost 6-2, 6-2 to Zech Ciske at No. 4 singles.
In doubles play, Frahm and Jarchow defeated Payton Brown and Devon Olson 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 1 slot.
At No. 2 doubles, Ommen and Tunnissen bested Preston Wegner and Adan Rodriguez 3-6, 6-4, 10-6.
Arp and Ferguson were defeated by Dylan Reid and Christian Pineda4-6, 7-5, 11-9 in a close match at No. 3 doubles.
Luverne 7,
MACCRAY 0
The Cardinals returned to their winning ways in the quarterfinal round of the Section 3A team tournament Monday afternoon.
LHS swept every game and match of singles play.
At No. 1 singles, Cunningham remained undefeated on the season with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Josiah Seehusen.
Jarchow, also undefeated in 2022, defeated Daniel Seehusen 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.
At No. 3 singles, Frahm defeated Josh Castaneda and at No. 4 singles Nath defeated Brent Rassat by identical 6-0, 6-0 scores.
Luverne also swept the two doubles matches that were contested.
At No. 1 doubles, Ommen and Tunnissen were victorious over Brogan Harguth and Andrew Janssen 6-1, 6-3.
Ferguson and Arp defeated Nate Wieberdink and Austin Sweep 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles.
Spencer Kracht and Luke Bosch received a forfeit at No. 3 doubles to secure the 7-0 Cardinal victory.