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UPDATE: Final four matchups underway at Vernon Curling Classic

Six teams in both women’s and men’s events started the day in hunt for top prize money
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Penticton’s Cameron de Jong has advanced to the playoff round at the Prestige Hotels and Resorts Curling Classic Sunday, Oct. 2, at the Vernon Curling Club. (Black Press - file photo)

UPDATE: SUNDAY, OCT. 2, 12:05 P.M.

It took extra time and an extra end for Ikue Kitazawa to grab the final semifinal spot at the Prestige Hotels and Resorts Curling Classic at the Vernon Curling Club.

Kitazawa forced an extra end with a deuce in the eighth and final regulation end, then stole the winning point to beat countrywoman Satsuki Fujisawa 7-6.

The win avenged a pair of losses to Fujisawa in the Japan Curling Championships in May for Kitazawa, who now faces Edmonton’s Jesse Hunkin in a women’s semifinal that was slated to start at 12 p.m.

The playoffs are set at the Prestige Hotels and Resorts Curling Classic at the Vernon Curling Club.

The women’s and men’s quarterfinals will kick things off Sunday, Oct. 2, at 9 a.m.

On the women’s side, Satsuki Fujisawa will face Ikue Kitazawa in an all-Japan matchup. The winner advances to face Jessie Hunkin of Edmonton in the semifinals at 12 p.m.

The other women’s quarterfinal saw Korea’s Eun Ji Gim rally from a 3-2 deficit by scoring three in the fourth, then stealing deuces in the sixth and seventh ends for a 9-3 victory over Kayla Skrlik of Calgary.

Gim now plays Corryn Brown of Kamloops in the other women’s semi.

On the men’s side, an all-B.C. quarterfinal went to kelowna’s Brent Pierce, who scored three in the fifth to help put away Sebastien Robillard of Port Coquitlam 8-5. Pierce now faces Riku Yanagisawa of Japan in a 12 p.m. semifinal.

Japan’s Kohsuke Hirata is playing New Westminster’s Sean Geall in the other final four matchup. Geal scored three in the final end with hammer to defeat Cameron de Jong’s Penticton/Vernon rink 6-4 in a Sunday morning quarterfinal.

The de Jong foursome includes Matt Tolley of Penticton at third, and the all-Vernon front end of Erik Colwell at second and John Slattery playing lead.

The championship games in both draws will be at 4 p.m. Sunday.

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roger@vernonmorningstar.com

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Roger Knox

About the Author: Roger Knox

I am a journalist with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. I started my career in radio and have spent the last 21 years working with Black Press Media.
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