The curling season is underway for Dauphin's Lane Prokopowich and the rest of team Serena Gray-Withers and what a start it's been.

Playing in the Morris tournament as a part of the Manitoba Junior Curling Tour over the weekend, the foursome won the women's title. The event was the first of nine that the team will be eligible to play in this season on the MJCT.

"It felt really good to get out there and get in the groove of things," said Prokopowich. "It was definitely a great feeling to win the first event of the year. We're off to a good start and that's exactly what our goal was."

The foursome didn't make it easy on themselves, however. They ended up having to play four games just to make the playoffs on Sunday.

They started the tournament on Friday with a 5-4 win. A marathon ended up being what the team ordered on Saturday. They started the day with a 4-2 win, but they lost their next two games. With a record of 2-2 after the round-robin, the team had to play Team Davies in the tiebreaker.

They won that game 6-5, which put them in the semifinals. The foursome kept it rolling by getting out to a 4-0 start in that game and they held on for a 5-4 win. The finals against Team Zacharias was a game of singles and that's okay with Lane and the team. They scored four singles to win 4-2. 

"We knew we were going to have a long day. We just sat down as a team and we made a game plan," said Prokopowich.

Next up for the team is the Mother Club Classic in two weeks. Playing primarily on the junior tour, they will make the jump up. The MCC is a women's event.

"It'll definitely be a really good experience for us," said Prokopowich. "It's going to be different, but it's going to be really good for us."

All of these events that the team will play in the next few months are in preparation for the big dance early next year. Prokopowich will return home for the Canola Growers Junior Provincial Championships, which will be played at the Dauphin Curling Club and Credit Union Place early in 2020. 

The Gray-Withers rink is almost a certain bet to be ranked near the top entering the 16-team tournament.

"We know that we've played most of the teams already that will be at the provincials," Prokopowich concluded. "Anyone is beatable and anything can happen. We're certainly looking forward to it. But, we have a lot of time to practice before that so that's what we're focusing on right now."