The Nola Murphy rink from the host Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club in Summerside lost both their opening games today at the Canadian Senior Curling Championships.
The Murphy rink, which includes third Donna Arsenault, second Elspeth Carmody, and lead stone Laurie Tirone, lost their morning opener 11-7 to the Deb Santos foursome from Alberta. Murphy took a single, with hammer, in the first end, but Santos took four points in the second, stole a triple in the third and a single in the fourth end to build up an 8-1 lead. Murphy narrowed the gap to 9-7 with a four point eighth end steal, but a ninth end deuce sealed the win for Alberta.
In the evening draw, the Murphy foursome lost 13-8 to Quebec’s Catherine Derick rink. PEI was leading 2-1 after 2, when Derick scored four in the third to lead 5-2. The Island rink picked up a single in four, but gave up a triple in the fifth. Murphy came back with a single in six, and stole a deuce in seven to reduce Quebec’s lead to 8-6, but a deuce in eight and a steal of three in nine put the game out of reach for the Summerside squad.
The PEI women play BC’s Karen Lapine team Sunday at 7 pm.