The New Zealand men have advanced to the semifinals at the world junior B curling championships.
That came after a 6-4 win over Russia in this morning's quarterfinal in Finland.
The match was tied at 4-4 heading into the final end, but New Zealand pulled out a big finish to claim victory.
It takes the side, made up of five Otago players, to its best result at the championships.
That was previously last year's fifth, which was the first time it had made the top eight.
To qualify for the full world championships, it needs a top three finish.
A win in tonight's semifinal against China would secure that, although if it loses it will get a second chance against Korea or Italy in the third-place playoff.
Yesterday a 4-1 win in its final group game, against Japan, left New Zealand on top of the competition table in Finland.
From there it was left to wait for other results to find out its final placing.
It ended up in a tie with China and Turkey with five wins and two losses, finishing second behind China in the tiebreak.
That was enough to progress to the quarterfinals.
The New Zealand women's team is out of the championships after finishing fourth in its group.
Its quarterfinal hopes remained alive heading into its final match against Poland - also fighting for a playoff spot.
However, Poland closed out a 6-5 win and advanced from the group alongside Scotland and Germany.
