US Team Handball Women's National Team

Overall the turn-out in the women’s division was impressive, with a total of eight teams, most boasting rosters of over ten players. There were twelve players from the WNT that attended, which included: Megan Ballard (Atlanta), Edina Batar (Cortland), Sunny Chen (Atlanta), Jennie Choi (Smurfs), Kathy Darling (Cortland), Jennifer Farrell (Smurfs), Sarah Gascon (Smurfs), Tabby Lowey (Atlanta), Sara Merkl (Cortland), Jacque Messel (Smurfs), Kelly Renie (UNC), and Jennifer Robertson (UNC).

“It is exciting to see the women's division continue to evolve,” observed Dawn Lewis. “There is much more parity among teams, making the competition a better learning environment and much more fun to watch and play. Both West Point Black and the University of North Carolina have shown the most improvement...with better quality athletes, experience over the years and a strong desire to win.”

The teams were broken into two brackets; in the “A” bracket, the defending champions the Smurfs came into the semi-finals in first place after beating West Point Gold and UNC, and barely slipping ahead of Atlanta. In the “B” bracket, the Chicago team- new to the tournament this year- made a surprising debut by blowing out last year’s silver medalists Cortland in the first game on Friday. Cortland went on to beat West Point Gold and Houston to enter the semi-finals in second place.

“Chicago Inter was a new and welcome addition to the women's field,” remarked Dawn Lewis, who helped oversee the Club Nationals this year. “While the team consists primarily of athletes who played in Europe- some even from World Championship and European Cup teams- they provided experience, a new style and elevated level of play which helps prepare our national team athletes for international competition. Congratulations to both Sladjana Prvanov and Nataliya Mitrjuk. They deserved MVP and MVG honors.”

The first match of the semi-finals looked like a rematch of last year’s gold medal game, with the Smurfs going against Cortland for a chance to play in the finals. It was an intense game, but Cortland stepped-up and took a strong lead against the Smurfs, which they maintained throughout the second-half to win the game.

“I was so thrilled for our semi-final victory over the Smurfs, who defeated us last year in the championships,” recalled Kathy Darling, who won MVP during last year’s Nationals, and shared the title of leading scorer this year. “They’re a great group and we've been looking forward to a rematch ever since that last game.”

In the other semi-final game, Chicago took down Atlanta, albeit it was a much closer game than some anticipated. Several players on the Atlanta team really stepped-up, including former National Team players Brittane Martin, Latrice Lewis, Joy Manning, and Tabrekia Almon.

“It is wonderful to see athletes who participated in the Olympic Games legacy programs are still involved. Latrice, Brittane and Joy were a bit rusty, but confirmed that they can still perform,” said Dawn Lewis.

After winning their semi-final matches, Cortland and Chicago came together for a second match, this time with the gold medal at stake.

We fell short of gold again this year, but I am still enormously proud of the fight we gave Chicago in the finals,” explains Kathy Darling. “Chicago was a huge surprise for us, and it was great to play against such talented and experienced players, and even better to recover from our initial meeting on Friday morning to only go down by 3. We really battled until the last second!”

“The team concept really came first at nationals this year, with a number of athletes forced into new positions and out of their comfort zones,” remarked Dawn Lewis. “Jennifer Robertson, a top five in scoring, was a prime example. Although she plays right wing and circle for the national team, she filled the role of back court player over the weekend showing her versatility, fantastic attitude and demonstrating why she earned the nickname of ‘franchise’.”

“I thought it was a well-organized tournament and I had a very nice time participating,” said WNT player and California Smurf, Jennie Choi. “It was also great to see fellow WNT players spread out and playing on different teams to make the level of competition more balanced. While we all wanted to win the tournament, it was fun to just play and have a good time on the court. Overall, I enjoyed getting to see Delaware, meeting new people at the university and the handball community, and getting to play some good quality games.”

The ladies of the WNT want to say a special thanks to Matt Russell, Dr. Tim DeSchriver and his sport management team, J. Harry Feldman, the University of Delaware, Newark community, and the USOC for staging a wonderful event.