SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Sponsor’s exemption Krista McCarville is heating up heading into the quarterfinals of the Boost National.
McCarville brushed off a tough loss to defending champ Rachel Homan in her first game of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament winning three straight to qualify.
The Thunder Bay native slid straight through to the quarters ousting Northern Ontario rival Tracy Fleury of Sudbury 7-3 during the last round-robin draw of the Boost National Friday night at the Essar Centre.
“Our first game we weren’t the sharpest but every game after that we’ve played better and better,” Team McCarville second Ashley Sippala said. “We feel like we’re peaking at the right time so it feels great.”
McCarville opened with the hammer and made a tricky shot through the port on her last in the second end to punch out Fleury’s counter for three points.
“Risk versus reward,” Sippala said. “I mean, it was totally there. It wasn’t an easy shot by any means but we wouldn’t want anyone other than Krista to throw that rock because she always seems to come through and make those big ones.”
Fleury attempted to hit and roll to blank the third, but her shooter spun to stick in to count. McCarville hit and rolled out with her last in four, but still took two extending her lead to four points. Fleury slashed the deficit in half scoring a deuce in five.
McCarville settled for a single in six, hitting and sticking around in the 12-foot circle, and added another to her total with a steal in the seventh to retake the four-point advantage. The Scotties silver medallist McCarville ran Fleury out of rocks in eight.
Fleury was eliminated with a 1-3 record. McCarville now seeks to avenge the loss to Homan (3-1) as they meet once again in the quarterfinals.
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Scotties champ Chelsea Carey also earned a 7-3 win to eliminate WFG Masters champ Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont., and keep her Calgary team in contention.
Carey will face Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, recent winner of the Canada Cup, in Saturday morning’s tiebreaker. Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg and Binia Feltscher of Switzerland clash in the other women’s tiebreaker. All four teams finished round-robin play with 2-2 records.
Edmonton’s Val Sweeting (4-0) and Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni (3-1) await the tiebreaker winners.
Flaxey is out with a 1-3 record.
Anna Sidorova (3-1) of Russia scored two in the sixth and stole one in seven to pull out a 5-2 victory over Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque (0-4). Sidorova is scheduled to play Kerri Einarson (3-1) in the quarterfinals.
In the men’s tiebreakers, Hometown hero Brad Jacobs drew for the winner in the eighth to edge Peter de Cruz of Switzerland 3-2.
Jacobs advances to the quarterfinals and plays John Morris of Vernon, B.C.
Toronto’s John Epping just barely made it into the quarterfinals staying wild by clipping Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 7-6.
Epping bounced back from a frustrating loss in the draw prior to de Cruz where he had the hammer tied in eight, but blanked and then gave up a steal in the extra end to drop into the tiebreakers.
“What a wild day of emotions,” Epping said. “It was pretty crazy. We lost the game earlier today that we totally controlled the whole way.
“Then came out against McEwen and played a pretty decent game after giving up a two in seven after it looked like we were dead. They were sitting five at one point but we wiggled our way out and only gave up two. Actually we played a really good eighth end and got lucky that Mike missed his last one to give us a chance for the win.”
Epping trailed by two with hammer coming home and had an open hit to ice the game for three. He connected, however, McEwen’s rock jammed on another rock. It was a close one, but Epping got it for the three count.
“Then came out against McEwen and played a pretty decent game after giving up a two in seven after it looked like we were dead. They were sitting five at one point but we wiggled our way out and only gave up two. Actually we played a really good eighth end and got lucky that Mike missed his last one to give us a chance for the win.”
One more men’s tiebreaker is scheduled for the morning between Charley Thomas and Brendan Bottcher in an all-Edmonton team match. The winner plays Brad Gushue (4-0) of St. John’s, N.L.
Calgary’s Kevin Koe is lined up against WFG Masters and Tour Challenge winner Niklas Edin in the quarterfinals.
NOTES: The Boost National is the third event and second major of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … Action continues Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET for tiebreakers with TV coverage resuming at Noon ET for the men’s quarterfinals on CBC. … The Boost National runs through to Sunday afternoon at the Essar Centre.