 Alberta's Serena Gray-Withers (Photo: Grand Slam of Curling) defeated Japan's Yuina Miura 8-4 to claim the first-ever Grand Slam of Curling U25 event title in Nisku, Alberta. By Connor Simms, #27 World-Ranked Serena, with Catherine Clifford at third, Lindsey Burgess and Zoe Cinnamon on the front end, is on a tear so far this season. They have already played in five events so far this season. They claimed three event titles of the five at the U25 NextGen Classic, McKee Homes Fall Curling Classic and the U25 Saville Challenge. This week, they were at the Inaugural U25 Grand Slam of Curling event. Gray-Withers finished 3-0 in the 16-team qualifying round. In their opening game, Gray-Withers defeated Caitlyn McPherson (Winnipeg, MB) 7-3, then won 9-1 against Lila Koe (Calgary, AB) and 6-4 against Allory Johnson (Blaine, MN) in their final qualifying round match. In the quarterfinal, they defeated Katie Ford (Waterloo, ON) 5-4. They then went on to a massive comeback, scoring four in the last end to win 6-5 against Fay Henderson (Stirling, SCO). This set up a match with Yuina Miura (Sapporo, JPN) in the final. Miura squad consists of Kohane Tsuruga at third, Rin Suzuki and Hana Ikeda on the front end. They also went 3-0 through the round robin. In their opening game, Miura defeated Mahra Harris (Victoria, BC) 7-0, then won 9-1 against Taylor Sanderman (Airdrie, AB) and 5-3 against Ford in their final qualifying round match. In the quarterfinals, they defeated Koe 9-1, then went on to defeat Emma Artichuk (Waterloo, ON) in a draw to the button shootout 7-6 in the semi-final. Both teams were tied at one after the first three ends, and Miura scored two points in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. Gray-Withers immediately responded with three points in the fifth. After Miura tied the game in the sixth, Gray-Withers took a deuce in the seventh and stole two in the eighth to take an 8-4 victory. Gray-Withers will go down in history with that win, being the first-ever U25 Grand Slam of Curling champion. They also continue to look strong as one of the favourites to win Alberta and go to the Scotties this season. On the men's side, Japan's Takumi Maeda defeated Ontario's Jordan McNamara 8-3. The next event for Team Gray-Withers will be at the Martensville SCT in Martensville, Saskatchewan, from November 7th-9th. |
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Manitoba's Jordon McDonald (Photo: Curling Canada) is in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, competing at the Canadian Olympic Pre-Trials.
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