WINNIPEG - Although it didn't end on a winning note, the first bonspiel of the season was a successful one for Krista McCarville's rink.
The Fort William Curling Club squad reached the final of the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic in Winnipeg on Sunday, but lost a 6-2 contest to former world junior champion Miyu Ueno of Japan.
McCarville only had second Kendra Lilly and lead Ashley Sippala on the ice with her for the playoffs, as third Andrea Kelly had to return home to New Brunswick for work commitments.
The trio defeated Chelsea Carey, the new skip for the rink formerly led by Jennifer Jones, in the quarterfinal round by a score of 8-3 and followed that up with a 5-3 semifinal triumph over Japan's Yuina Miura.
After opening the event with wins over Minnesota's Allie Giroux and Winnipeg's Sarah Jane-Sass, McCarville dropped her final two Pool B games to North Dakota's Rachel Workin and Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa.
That put the team in a tie for second with Workin, but they earned a playoff spot through the last stone draw tiebreaker.
The next cashspiel event for the McCarville rink is the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard from Oct. 10-14.