SURREY, B.C. — Saskatchewan’s Nancy Martin and Rylan Kleiter have seen their run at the Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship come to an end.
The Martensville duo dropped a 10-2 decision to Niagara Falls’ Serena Gray-Withers and Victor Pieterangelo in the first round of the playoffs on Friday evening and as a result have been eliminated from the competition.
It was a tough start for Martin and Kleiter, as after exchanging single points the first two ends, they’d give up a pair in the third before enduring a dagger when Gray-Withers and Pieterangelo put up four in the next frame for a 7-1 lead. The Ontario crew added a third straight steal in the fifth end before Saskatchewan got one back in the sixth, but Gray-Withers and Pieterangelo would pick up another deuce in the seventh to bring things to an early end.
Martin and Kleiter had put together an impressive run to reach the playoff round, overcoming a 1-2 start to win three straight games and finish with a 4-2 record. That was good enough for ninth place overall and their playoff spot.
They can take some consolation in the fact that Gray-Withers and Pieterangelo have since continued winning, as they defeated previously unbeaten Jacob Horgan and Kira Brunton 8-7 in the quarter-final and will now face Ontario’s Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher in the semis.
Homan and Bottcher rolled to an 8-4 win over Quebec’s Maxandre Caron and Sophie Sanscartier in their quarters match-up, while Alberta’s Zoe Cinnamon and Johnson Tao put up back-to-back three enders for an 11-9 win over New Brunswick’s Alix Robichaud and Melissa Adams. Ontario’s Katie Ford and Oliver Campbell landed the other semifinal berth, stealing a pair in the eight for a 7-5 win over Ontario’s Laura Neil and Scott McDonald.
As a result, Cinnamon and Tao will take on Ford and Campbell in the other semifinal matchup, with both games set for 9:30 a.m. The winners there will play for the Canadian championship at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The tournament champions will represent Canada at the World Mixed Doubles Championship beginning Apr. 25 in Geneva, Switzerland.
