Curling: First mixed doubles playoff draw set [Video]

LIVERPOOL, N.S. –

Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter clinched first place in Pool A with an 8-6 win over Paige Papley and Evan Van Amsterdam in the final preliminary-round draw Thursday at the Canadian mixed doubles curling trials.

Tran and Klieter (6-1) took a 7-3 lead with a steal of three in the fourth end and cruised to victory.

Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher also finished at 6-1 following a 6-4 win over Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing, but they lost to Tran and Kleiter on Wednesday and settled for second.

Despite the loss, Jones and Laing finished third in the pool and qualified for the playoffs at 4-3 after Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres lost 7-5 to Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock (2-5).

Walker and Muyres also finished 4-3 but Jones and Laing held the tiebreaker.

Jessica Zheng and Victor Pietrangelo (3-4) posted a 7-4 win over Robert Desjardins and Anne-Sophie Gionest …