 Minnesota's Tabitha Peterson defeated Korea's Bobae Kang 4-3 to round out the playoff field at the AMJ Masters Tier 2 event. By Connor Simms, Tabitha Peterson, with Cory Thiesse at third, Tara Peterson and Taylor Anderson-Heide on the front end, continues to climb the rankings this season. They began the season at #30 in the world. They then moved to #23 with a win at the Euro Super Series in Scotland and a third-place finish at the Saville Shootout. They are in London, Ontario, playing at the St. Thomas Curling Club in the AMJ Masters Tier 2 event. Tabitha's best finish at the Masters tier 1 event is the semi-finals back in the 2022-2023 season. Peterson finished 3-1 in the 16-team qualifying round. In their opening game, Peterson defeated Bobae Kang (Jeonbuk, KOR) 7-6, then went on to lose 7-5 against Manitoba's Kaitlyn Lawes. Peterson responded with an 8-7 win over Danielle Inglis (Ottawa, ON). Peterson won 8-6 against Beth Peterson (Winnipeg, MB) in their final qualifying round match. With the grand slams' point system, they are using for this event, since Peterson won two games on the draw to the button, they were still forced into a tiebreaker game on Saturday morning. This set up a rematch with Kang for the final playoff spot. Peterson won the opening game draw to the button for the hammer. After a blank in the first end, Peterson came up heavy on a draw for two, settling for their single point. Peterson stole a single point after Kang was only able to remove one of Peterson's stones. Kang then got their single point in the fourth end, making the hit and stick. In the fifth end, Kang tied the game up with a steal of one after Peterson came up heavy on the tap attempt. After a blank in the sixth end, a measure of three stones, Peterson ultimately was forced to their single point. Kang then tied the game at three in the eighth end, forcing the draw to the button for the win. Peterson pinned her draw on her first, and Kang was unable to match it, giving a 4-3 victory for Peterson. That win grabbed them a spot in the quarter-finals on Saturday at 3:30 pm Eastern Time (ET). They will face Japan's Ikue Kitazawa (4-0). In other Tier 2 quarter-final matchups, Manitoba's Kate Cameron will play British Columbia's Kayla MacMillan, Denmark's Madeline Dupont will face Manitoba's Kaitlyn Lawes, and Scotland's Rebecca Morrison will face Switzerland's Corrie Huerlimann Team Peterson is streaming their games on their Facebook page. |
A five at the opening end of their first-ever match together in a major international competition sent Katie McMillan and Angus Bryce on their way to a dominant victory over the USA at the ACE & Company World Mixed Doubles Championships in Geneva.
