Duo places 2nd at DeKalb (04/28/08)

DEKALB - It took Cindy Muhlenkamp and Tiffani Bickel a little while to warm up. But once they did, they were hard to stop.

On the verge of falling in their opening match, Bickel and Muhlenkamp rallied for victory and went all the way to the finals as they finished as the No. 1 doubles runners-up at Saturday's DeKalb Invitational. They led Jay County to a tie for fifth place.

Bickel and Muhlenkamp won just three of their first 14 games against Jessica Purdy and Morgan McFarren of Westview, trailing 5-0 in the second set after dropping the first. But then, the light came on.

The Patriot pair won seven consecutive games to take the second set and force a tiebreaker, which they won 10-3 to advance to the semifinal round.

Bickel and Muhlenkamp proceeded to defeat Katie Reynolds and Lexi Buchs of the host Barons to reach the championship match, where they lost 6-1, 6-3 to Quinci Huffine and Abbie Doan of Bellmont to finish in second place.

Hannah McAbee turned in the next best effort for Jay County, placing fourth in the No. 3 singles bracket. She defeated Triton's Courtney Sellers 6-2, 6-1 in the opening round to guarantee a top-four finish.

In the semifinals McAbee lost 6-2, 6-3 to Westview's Tabitha Lehman, and she dropped the third-place match 6-1, 6-2 against Alyssa Lotspeich of Bishop Dwenger.

The only other Patriot to win a match on the day was Megan Adams, who finished sixth at No. 1 singles. After dropping her opening match, she bounced back to defeat Triton's Brooke Shafer 6-2, 6-3 in the second round before dropping the match for fifth place.

No. 2 singles player Mariah Clark and the No. 2 doubles team of Megan Huntsman and Briann Saxman each finished 0-2 on the day.[[In-content Ad]]