CARSTAIRS -- The Plett rink fell short of qualifying for U-18 provincials despite a late surge with their backs against the wall, said their coach.
The rink, which consists of skip Ava Plett, third Myla Plett, second Rebekah Frist, all from Carstairs, and lead Lauren Miller from Airdrie, was competing in the recent U-18 provincial qualifier at the Calgary Curling Club.
On the opening day, Team Plett fell 8-7 to Calgary Winter Club's Thangadurai rink and 5-2 to Calgary's Minshull rink.
"The girls did not play well on their first day, losing both of their games," said coach Brad Plett. "As it was a triple knockout event, this left us with one life the rest of the way."
The team bounced back with three straight wins: 7-6 over North Hill's Ector rink, 7-1 over Calgary's Molnar rink, and 5-4 over Delburne's Raniseth rink.
"They picked up their game the rest of the way winning three straight," he said. "The next game was a win you're in provincials, lose and you're out game. It was tied in the last end but the other team had hammer and we were not able to steal a point for the win. The last game was against last year's provincial champions."
In the final qualifying game, Team Plett fell 4-3 to the Bakker rink from Calgary.
Skip Ava Plett said the team struggled early with some nerves but managed to overcome that on the second day.
"We were hoping to get to provincials," said Ava. "We got pretty close at the end. We didn't start out so strong. We were really feeling the pressure of trying to make provincials. So we weren't having as much fun. On Friday we had a pretty tough day but we picked it up by Saturday and ended up making it to the C final to get to qualify."
Ava said it was tough losing such a close one in the qualifier game against Team Bakker.
"We came up short on our last rock by four inches," she said.
Myla Plett, the younger of the two sisters, recently competed at the mixed doubles provincials in Dawson Creek (results not available at press time).
Myla and teammate Lauren Miller are also competing in the bantam (U-15) provincial qualifier in March with two other girls.
