A steal of two in the final end lifted the Vernon/Kelowna rink of Alyssa Kyllo/Tyrel Griffith to the Nufloors Mixed Doubles Curling Classic title at the Vernon Curling Club.
The Okanagan duo defeated the daughter/father combo of Jaelyn and Jim Cotter 10-8 Sunday, Oct. 23, to win the $1,500 first prize.
A total of 10 teams competed in two pools of five for the $4,500 purse and World Curling Tour points.
Kyllo/Griffith went 3-1 in the preliminary round. They opened the three-day event with a 7-4 victory over the Mexico City pair of Angelica Perez/Ramy Cohen before suffering their only defeat of the tournament, an 8-3 setback to Brette Richards/Jeff Richard of Kelowna.
The eventual champs bounced back to defeat Holly Hafeli/Mitchell Kopytko of Vernon 10-7, and closed out the preliminary round with an 8-5 decision over Victoria91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s Karly King-Simpson/Connar Croteau.
Kyllo/Griffith finished atop their round-robin pool to advance to the semifinal, where they knocked off the Abbotsford/Kelowna pair of Sarah Wark/Andrew Nerpin 8-5.
For the Cotters, the loss in the final was the only blemish of their weekend. They went 4-0 in their pool, starting with an 8-7 win over the Salmon Arm team of Maia Belway/Cam Weir. The Cotters knocked off Vernon clubmates Jorja Kopytko/Bryan Yamada 7-5, edged Wark/Nerpin 8-7 and blanked the team of April Gale Seixeiro/Steve Seixeiro from Lisbon, Portugal 8-0.
Jim and Jaelyn advanced to the final with a 7-6 semifinal win over Hafeli/Mitchell Kopytko, stealing the winning point in the final end.
Hafeli/Kopytko ended up 2-3 overall. Belway/Weir and Richards/Richard were 2-2. Kopytko/Yamada compiled a 1-3 mark.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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