The Luverne boys’ tennis team returned to its winning ways over the past week with three consecutive victories.
The Cardinals, now 7-1 on the season, defeated Blue Earth Area on Thursday and Yellow Medicine East and Montevideo on Saturday.
The scheduled meet in Fairmont Monday was postponed to May 2.
The LHS team is currently ranked eighth in Class A in the Minnesota Tennis Coaches Association poll.
Luverne is scheduled to play in Worthington today (Thursday), in Fairmont on Monday and in St. James on Tuesday before hosting Redwood Valley next Thursday, May 5.
Luverne 5, BEA 2
The LHS boys’ tennis team enjoyed the best weather of the season for a meet on Thursday when they defeated the Blue Earth Area Bucs 5-2 at home.
“It was an awesome meet,” said Luverne head coach Lucas Larson. “It was closer than it appears, and there was some good competition.”
He credited the doubles teams for the win.
“Both our No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams lost their first sets but came back to win their matches. If they don’t do that, we don’t win,” Larson said. “I was really pleased with those guys.”
At No. 1 doubles, Logan Ommen and Chance Tunnissen of Luverne lost a close set to Devin Haase and Brady Lorenz 7-5 before coming back to win the next two sets 7-5 and 6-3.
At No. 2 doubles, Luverne’s Jase Arp and Kyle Ferguson came back after a 6-3 setback in the first set to defeat Blue Earth’s Jerry Passe and Seth Stevermer 7-6 and 6-1 to secure their win.
Luverne’s Luke Bosch and Levi Thielbar lost to John Lappe and Calvin Farrow 6-3 and 7-6 at No. 3 doubles.
The Cardinals won three of the four singles matches against Blue Earth Area.
At No. 1 singles, Luverne’s Pierce Cunningham defeated Vern Johnson 6-3, 6-0.
Griffen Jarchow, playing at No. 2 singles for the Cardinals, defeated Nick Frundt of BEA 6-1, 6-1.
At No. 3 singles, Luverne’s Blake Frahm won over Joe Frundt 6-4, 7-6 in close sets. Jamie Johnson of BEA defeated Ethan Nath of LHS at No. 4 singles 6-3, 7-5.
Luverne 5, YME 2
The Cardinals defeated the first of two opponents on Saturday when LHS came out on top of Yellow Medicine East of Granite Falls 5-2 in the morning matchup.
Although Luverne was playing YME, the real foe on Saturday was the weather.
“It was as if we were battling the wind more than our opponents for most of the matches,” said LHS No. 2 singles player Griffen Jarchow.
“It totally changed all of our play styles and made us think a little differently when playing our matches.”
Although playing on one of the windiest days in years was a challenge, the Cardinals still recorded a solid win, taking the first three singles matches and two of three doubles.
At No. 1 singles, Cunningham defeated Ean Clarke in a close match 7-5, 7-6.
Jarchow was victorious over Jackson Torgerson 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.
At No. 3 singles, Blake Frahm won 6-2, 6-1 over Ryan Syring.
Spencer Kracht was defeated by Derrick Lien at No. 4 singles 6-2, 6-3.
At No. 1 doubles, Nath and Ommen defeated Austin Canatsey and Isaac Olevson 6-2, 6-1.
At No. 2 doubles, Ferguson and Arp bested Karter Canatsey and Ryan Brouwer 6-1, 6-0.
The most competitive match of the meet was at No. 3 doubles. Levi Thielbar and Ross Bergman lost to Mason Rhode and Gage Corner 4-6, 6-3, 12-10.
Luverne 6, Montevideo 1
Luverne earned its second win of the day when the Cards came out on top of the Montevideo Thunderhawks 6-1 Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals won three of four singles matches.
At No. 1 singles, Cunningham continued his winning ways over Tyson Quigley 6-2, 6-0.
Jarchow defeated Andrew Soden at No. 2 singles 6-2, 6-1.
At No. 3 singles, Frahm bested Simon Fitzkappes 6-0, 6-1.
Kracht was defeated by Talan Brock 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in a competitive match at No. 4 singles.
LHS swept the doubles matches against the Thunderhawks.
At No. 1 doubles, Ommen and Nath were victorious 6-1, 6-0 over Connor Hagen and Sam Ostendorf.
Ferguson and Arp defeated Oscar Anariba and Jarrett Rhode 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.
At No. 3 doubles, Thielbar and Hunter Gaffaney defeated Karl Krueger and Kyle Canatsey 6-4, 6-0.