Vernon’s Megan McGillivray completed her march to the playoffs with a solid and strategic 9-4 win over Jensen Taylor from Royal City Sunday morning.
They stole threes in eight and nine to salt it away after a tight game played close in the early going.
“We got off to a bit of a slow start but we usually like to keep it close in the beginning ends and then go all out in the last bit so I think we did that really well,” McGillivray said after the win. “We definitely put the pressure on them in the last couple of ends there, so it turned out good for us.”
With McGillivray, Sarah Daniels and Taylor Reese-Hensen all at 5-1 heading to the last draw of round-robin play at 2 p.m., all that’s left to decide is first place and the bye to the final on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Those finishing second and third will play in the semi-final on Monday at 10 a.m.
“I think we struggled getting going a little bit, maybe just with the early morning but I think we really stepped it up in the last couple of ends, especially when it was that close.” McGillivray continued. “There was a momentum shift. In the seventh we made that run back just to get one, to get rid of hammer, and we definitely felt a shift in the momentum there. We were then able to control how we wanted to play the game after that.”
McGillivray is looking to keep things as they are heading into the final round-robin game, against a surging Daniels squad. Reese-Hansen will face the 3-3 Taylor.
“Keep it how we’ve been playing it, don’t get carried away with how the other team is playing it and stick to our strategy. I think we’ve been playing really strong so it’s been good,” she said.
Game time is 2 p.m.
Here are standings heading into the final draw:
| Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Daniels | 5 | 1 |
| McGillivray | 5 | 1 |
| Reese-Hansen | 5 | 1 |
| Guidos | 3 | 3 |
| Taylor | 3 | 3 |
| Wilson | 2 | 5 |
| Hafeli | 2 | 5 |
| Drexel | 0 | 6 |
On the men’s side, it was no easy feat for Vernon’s Erik Colwell to stay alive in the playoff race, but they managed to keep their hopes afloat with a dramatic last-shot 8-7 win over Bryan Yamada in the morning draw.
After giving up a three in the second end, Colwell was able to steady the ship and do what was necessary to secure a deuce in 10 for the win.
Hayata Sato and Tyler Tardi secured playoff spots with wins in their sixth games and face each other to decide first place, so it comes down to a head-to-head duel for the final spot between Colwell and Nicholas Umbach from Langley/Royal City at 2 p.m. today.
The semi will go Monday at 3 p.m. and the final Tuesday at 3 p.m.
| Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Sato | 5 | 1 |
| Tardi | 5 | 1 |
| Colwell | 4 | 2 |
| Umbach | 4 | 2 |
| McCrady | 2 | 4 |
| Yamada | 2 | 5 |
| Silversides | 2 | 5 |
| Marshall | 1 | 5 |
We will have final round-robin results after the afternoon draw.
