Patriots 5th at DeKalb (08/21/07)

DEKALB - Adam Horn and Mark Alberson aren't the new guys anymore.

Jay County's No. 2 doubles duo was a question mark last season, both new to varsity competition. They responded with an 11-7 record on a sectional championship team.

Now, they're leading that team.

Alberson and Horn added three more victories Saturday at the DeKalb Invitational, extending their perfect record to 5-0 and scoring most of the Patriots' 15 points in their fifth-place finish.

NorthWood won the tournament with 24 points, one ahead of the host Barons.

Horn and Alberson won all three of their matches in straight sets, including a pair in relatively quick fashion.

They topped Trevor Sparkman and Trevor Derby of East Noble 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round, then reached the championship match with a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Angola's Justin Elston and Gavin Bush. It was all Jay County in the finals, as Alberson and Horn took the tournament title 6-2, 6-2 over DeKalb's Jake Cyran and Michael Culler.

No. 1 doubles players Thomas McCowan and Heath Rigby were the only other Patriots to win their opening match. They topped Caleb Egolf and Mick Jager of West Noble 6-1, 6-3 for their first victory of the season, but dropped the next two matches to finish fourth.

Josh Ludy went 2-1 on the day despite losing to eventual champion Preston Swain of NorthWood 6-3, 1-6 (10-8) in the opening round at No. 1 singles. He bounced back from the super tiebreaker defeat with victories of 6-1, 6-3 over Logan Weber of East Noble and 8-3 over Nick Burlingame of Angola to finish fifth.

At No. 3 singles Kyle Simmons dropped his first match, defeated Derek Thiem of Bellmont 6-1, 6-0 in round two and dropped his third match to place sixth overall. Phil Powell finished 0-2 on the day.[[In-content Ad]]