Morning Star Staff
Kiss got the better of Love in Draw 3 Wednesday morning at the Tim Hortons B.C. Junior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships at the Kamloops Curling Club.
Vernon’s Thomas Love fell 9-4 in nine ends to New Westminster’s Jordan Kiss, dropping the Vernon skip to 1-2.
Eight teams are competing in both the men’s and women’s draws.
Kiss (2-1) opened with a steal of two in the first and another in the second end to take a 3-0 lead.
Love rallied with single points in the third and fourth before Kiss scored four in the fifth end for a 7-2 lead.
Love, backed by third Erik Colwell, second Brendan Chapple and lead Johnathan Schwartz, and coached by Dean Chapple, opened the seven-game round-robin Tuesday with a 10-3, nine-end win over Connor Croteau of Victoria.
Croteau jumped out to a 3-1 lead after four ends before Love, with the hammer, took control with three in the fifth and a steal of four in the seventh.
Love sealed the victory with single steals in the eighth and ninth ends.
Matthew McCrady of New Westminster scored a 7-5 win over Love in Draw 2 Tuesday. McCrady scored deuces in the fourth and sixth ends to take a 6-3 lead. Love countered with singles in the seventh and eighth. McCrady added one in the ninth and ran the Vernon rink out of rocks in the final end.
On the women’s draw, Vernon’s Winter Harvey and her rink of third Jaelyn Cotter, second Megan McGillivray, lead Cassidy Schwaerzle, fifth Katelyn McGillivray, and coached by B.C. men’s champ Jim Cotter, looked to get into the win column Wednesday.
Harvey opened Tuesday night with a 10-5 loss to Sarah Daniels of New Westminster.
Tied 3-3 after five ends, Daniels scored deuces in the sixth and eighth ends while Harvey could only muster singles in seven and nine. Daniels put the match away with three in the 10th.
Harvey took on Alysha Buchy of Kimberley (coached by her father, former Vernon junior curler Tom Buchy) Wednesday afternoon, and faced Alyssa Connell of Prince George Wednesday night.
The page playoff for both draws are slated for Saturday at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. with the top-four rinks in each draw qualifying. The women’s final is Sunday at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s at 2 p.m.
The winning teams will travel to Stratford, Ont. for the 2016 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. The winners in Ontario go to the World Junior Championships in Erzurum, Turkey.
