MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — Japan's Team Miku Nihira clinched the final playoff spot in the P&H Masters.
Nihira defeated Canada's Team Taylor Reese-Hansen 8-5 Saturday morning in the lone tiebreaker match at Co-op Place to advance.
Reese-Hansen started with the hammer, but Nihira stole in the first end to open the scoring.
After Reese-Hansen recovered with a deuce in the second, Nihira scored a key three-ender in the third to take a 4-2 lead.
Reese-Hansen tied it up with a single in four and a steal in five, but Nihira re-established the two-point gap with a deuce in six.
Nihira held Reese-Hansen to a single in the seventh and pulled off a double takeout on her last in the eighth to tack on two more points.
The Sapporo-based squad will face top-seeded Team Eun-ji Gim of South Korea in the late afternoon quarterfinals (4 p.m. EST / 3 p.m. ABT).
The other three matches are: Team Rachel Homan vs. Team Selena Sturmay in an all-Canadian clash (feature game), Switzerland's Team Xenia Schwaller vs. Sweden's Team Isabella Wranå, and Japan's Team Ikue Kitazawa vs. Switzerland's Team Alina Pätz.
The men's quarterfinals are up first (12:30 p.m. EST / 11:30 a.m. ABT), featuring Canada's Team Matt Dunstone vs. Team Danny Casper of the United States.
Also in action: Switzerland's Team Yannick Schwaller vs. Scotland's Team Grant Hardie, Canada's Team John Epping vs. Switzerland's Team Marco Hösli, and Scotland's Team Bruce Mouat vs. Canada's Team Brendan Bottcher.
