WOMEN’S ROUND ROBIN BEGINS AT U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
On Wednesday morning at the 2021 U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Championships, the women’s field took the ice in their first round robin game of the event.
Seven women’s teams from across the United States have met in Wausau, Wisconsin to compete for a national title and the qualification (2) to the 2022 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
For Jamie Sinclair’s rink, this morning’s game not only marked their first game of the tournament, but also the new team’s first time playing together in competition outside of a scrimmage.
"We did it all over the offseason with Zoom calls every week and everything,” said Elizabeth Cousins, second on Team Sinclair regarding preparing for competition with the new team. “Nothing compares to a true competition like this. It felt amazing to get out there and we finally got to execute team shots just like we had talked about for a year. It felt great."
Team Sinclair’s first game as a team was also their first win as a team, defeating Team McMakin 10-6.
Teams Bear and Strouse met in the opening draw of the tournament. Scoring three in the first end, Team Srouse started strong, but two Team Bear steals of two in the middle of the game resulted in a 8-7 victory for Team Bear.
On the first women’s feature game broadcasted by 12th End Sports Network to the USA Curling Youtube Channel, Team Traxler faced Team Rhyme. With player changes on both sides of the contest since the 2020 Championship, the teams settled into their lineups, keeping the score close through four ends before Team Rhyme pulled away in the second half of the game, winning 10-3.
On the men’s side, Jed Brundidge defeated Derek Corbett 8-6. After exchanging scores of three points in the fourth and fifth ends, Brundidge managed to generate a deuce with hammer, and force Team Corbett to only singles.
After losing last night’s round robin game against Team Birklid on a measure, Team Ruohonen rebounded in the 12:00 PM draw against 2-0 Team Dunnam. With a perfect hammer efficiency from the fifth end on, Team Ruohonen defeated Team Dunnam 8-4, moving both teams to 2-1 records.
The 25 and under team skipped by Team Violette handed veteran skip Todd Birr his third loss of the tournament, winning 11-0 after four ends.
Team Fenson and Persinger kept the game tied through five ends, until the squad skipped by Riley Fenson blew the game open by scoring five points in the seventh and winning 8-4 over Persinger.
Looking to carry the momentum from their win over Ruohonen into their first game on Wednesday, Team Birklid played Team Dropkin. Team Dropkin’s ability to keep Birklid to only singles with hammer resulted in a 6-3 victory for Dropkin, leaving the squad as the only undefeated team in the men’s field.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live scoring of the 2021 U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Championships.
The Championships will be broadcasted May 25-31 on the USA Curling Youtube Channel!
USA Curling is sponsored by Toyota, Goldline, Twin Cities Orthopedics, Training HAUS, Brakebush, ISS (Ice, Sports & Solar), and Sitrin, and is partnered with IHG, Rock Solid Productions Inc., 12th End Sports Network, Laurie Artiss Ltd. – The Pin People, and United Airlines.
