PREP TENNIS: Cardinal girls’ tennis falls in championship

ST. PETER — The Luverne Cardinal girls’ tennis team won their first match Tuesday in the Section 3 semifinals against Redwood Valley 6-1 before falling to St. James 7-0 in the championship to end their season.

In Game 1, Kaitlin Wohnoutka defeated Abby Schmidt of RWV 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in No. 1 singles, while Emily Robinson of Luverne took down Abi Einck 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.

Katie Eeten played No. 3 singles for the Cardinals and won her match against Ahnna Malacek 6-1, 5-7, 6-1. Emilee Johnson rounded out the singles matches for Luverne with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Alyssa Lueck in No. 4 singles.

“We were really close in most of the matches,” LHS coach Greg Antoine said. “Five of the seven matches went to a third set which means it is really anybody’s match to win.

“We played really well in all of our singles matches. The four seniors are really peaking at the right time.”

At No. 1 doubles, Paige Adams and Kynzie Smedsrud defeated Callie Hanson and Madison Tholkes of RWV 6-4, 3-6, 7-3. Alex Erie and Revecca Einck got the only win for RWV at No. 2 doubles over Brianna Erickson and Danielle Kneip 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. Mckenzie Wenninger and Tatiana Gust took the match in No. 3 doubles over Carli Grannes and Mackenzie Jeseritz 6-7, 6-1, 6-1.

“All 3 doubles teams went 3 sets,” Antoine said. “You really have to dig down deep when you go three sets and we seemed to have what it took today. The girls were really excited to be playing in the championship game.”

In Game 2 against St. James, Aryn Eckstrom took down Wohnoutka 6-2, 6-2 in No. 1 singles and Lorena Hernandez defeated Robinson 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2 singles. Julia Boeve topped Eeten 6-0, 6-2, while Johnson fell to Aubrey Eckstrom 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

“St. James lived up to its ranking of 4th in the state,” Antoine said. “They are quite strong all the way up and down their lineup. We actually played better than the scores indicated. We played hard and did a lot of thing right.”

At No. 1 doubles, Michaela Nordby and Acacia Foss beat Adams and Smedsrud 6-2, 6-2. Erickson and Kneip lost to Megan Lahti and Michaela Nelson 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles, while Cassidy Shapek and Hannah Christensen defeated Wenninger and Gust in No. 3 doubles 6-1, 5-7, and 6-1.

“McKenzie and Tatiana had 1 really good stretch in their match,” Antoine said. “They were down 5-1 in the second set, one game away from losing. They reeled off 6 straight games to win the set 7-5. I think that doing that will have a big carryover effect for next season for those two.”

With the loss, the Cardinals are out of the playoffs, but the individual section tournament begins Thursday in Redwood Falls.

Tags: sports, luverne, tennis, prep