Henderson Wins Euro Super Series Title
A new-look five-player women's line-up of Fay Henderson, Robyn Munro, Hailey Duff, Lisa Davie and Katie McMillan produced a succession of outstanding performances in the knockout stages to claim a title on their first outing together. Photo: British Curling.
They had suffered a convincing 6-1 defeat to Canada's Team McMillan in the round-robin stages, but they demonstrated how quickly they have bonded with a 7-4 defeat of the same opponents in the final.
That followed dramatic wins over the USA's defending champions Team Strouse in the quarter-finals and the world number nine ranked Italians skipped by Olympic mixed doubles gold medallist Stefania Constantini in the semis, in which the young Scots had been 6-4 down without the hammer playing the eighth end, only to take the match down an extra end and win it there.
"All in all it's been a very good weekend," said Henderson.
"Obviously, as a new team, we are not quite sure where we sit in the world rankings, but this week, we have proved that we can fight among those top 10 or top 15 teams, and hopefully, the points will help us to chase a spot higher as well, which would be very nice.
"Rotating between the five of us, we've shown that we can win a play-off game with every line-up, so we've got a lot more to come.
"To get our first win in the first event of the season is great and we couldn't have asked for a better start.
"Rotating can be a little bit more of a challenge, but I think everyone who has come off and played the next game has definitely managed to step it up a level.
"We've identified things if there's anything missing and picked that up in amongst our role very well."
Before claiming a first Scottish Women's Curling Championships title earlier this year, Henderson had demonstrated her potential when she led Scotland to victory at last year's World Junior Championships and she welcomed being reunited with Robyn Munro, her vice skip from that campaign.
"Keeping the consistency of me and Robyn has really worked," she said.
"We're definitely a good pair and the front three have made sure there was nothing missing, regardless of who's playing.
"Back at the World Junior Championships we managed to prove how good we were together and now that we've had a bit of time apart and managed to step up our games being back together will take us from strength to strength."
She also said the team had benefited greatly from the input of new coach Clancy Grandy, the Canadian who had, ironically, skipped the Team MacMillan line-up before retiring from playing at the end of last season.
"Clancy's been great this weekend," said Henderson.
"She knows exactly what we need to do which is reassuring and been very supportive. Especially as a skip she understands my position and just helps us keep our heads calm and switched on."Â
Replays of the ESS games are available on Curling Stadium Europe:Â https://curlingstadiumeurope.com
They had suffered a convincing 6-1 defeat to Canada's Team McMillan in the round-robin stages, but they demonstrated how quickly they have bonded with a 7-4 defeat of the same opponents in the final.
That followed dramatic wins over the USA's defending champions Team Strouse in the quarter-finals and the world number nine ranked Italians skipped by Olympic mixed doubles gold medallist Stefania Constantini in the semis, in which the young Scots had been 6-4 down without the hammer playing the eighth end, only to take the match down an extra end and win it there.
"All in all it's been a very good weekend," said Henderson.
"Obviously, as a new team, we are not quite sure where we sit in the world rankings, but this week, we have proved that we can fight among those top 10 or top 15 teams, and hopefully, the points will help us to chase a spot higher as well, which would be very nice.
"Rotating between the five of us, we've shown that we can win a play-off game with every line-up, so we've got a lot more to come.
"To get our first win in the first event of the season is great and we couldn't have asked for a better start.
"Rotating can be a little bit more of a challenge, but I think everyone who has come off and played the next game has definitely managed to step it up a level.
"We've identified things if there's anything missing and picked that up in amongst our role very well."
Before claiming a first Scottish Women's Curling Championships title earlier this year, Henderson had demonstrated her potential when she led Scotland to victory at last year's World Junior Championships and she welcomed being reunited with Robyn Munro, her vice skip from that campaign.
"Keeping the consistency of me and Robyn has really worked," she said.
"We're definitely a good pair and the front three have made sure there was nothing missing, regardless of who's playing.
"Back at the World Junior Championships we managed to prove how good we were together and now that we've had a bit of time apart and managed to step up our games being back together will take us from strength to strength."
She also said the team had benefited greatly from the input of new coach Clancy Grandy, the Canadian who had, ironically, skipped the Team MacMillan line-up before retiring from playing at the end of last season.
"Clancy's been great this weekend," said Henderson.
"She knows exactly what we need to do which is reassuring and been very supportive. Especially as a skip she understands my position and just helps us keep our heads calm and switched on."Â
Replays of the ESS games are available on Curling Stadium Europe:Â https://curlingstadiumeurope.com