Women’s Epee Grand Prix – Doha – Day 2

(Or “Kat Power”)

Unlike the men, the US Women’s Epee team did quite well in Doha. One lady even reached unprecedented heights – just when she needed to. Let’s break it down:

USA Women’s Epee:

Table of 64:

Anna Van Brummen d. Alexandra Ndolo (Germany), 15-13

Anna had a spectacular Day 1, and she’s keeping her momentum going in Day 2. Next!

Courtney Hurley d. Barbara Rutz (Poland), 15-9

Courtney posted the most dominant American win all day. All the others were tighter than a referee’s hiney.

Kat Holmes d. Inna Bravko (Ukraine), 15-11

This is already Kat’s best result of the season. But she’s not done yet…

Dzohan Bezhura (Ukraine) d. Kelley Hurley, 15-12 (Kelley finished 39th)

Aw, phooey! (But, to be honest, there were a busload of T64 upsets – including two of the Top 3 seeds!) If there’s an upside, it’s that Kelley hasn’t fallen out of the World Top 16 or the American Top 4.

Table of 32:

Anna d. Hyein Lee (Korea), 15-13

Yes, folks, she just upset the 16th seed!

Kat d. Dzhoan Bezhura (Ukraine), 15-12

Besting the lady who just bested her teammate and buddy Kelley? Priceless.

Olena Kryvytska (Ukraine) d. Courtney, 9-8 (OT) (Courtney finished 22nd)

Ouch. A hard loss, but she went down fighting. Oh, and the World Rankings have been so shaken that Courtney is now back in the World Top 16.

Table of 16:

Kat d. Guangjuan Hou (China), 15-11

Christopher Columbus, is she on a tear! Woo-hoo!

Erika Kirpu (Estonia) d. Anna, 15-14 (Anna finished 12th)

Ouch! Another tough loss. But consider a few things: first, this is Anna’s highest Grand Prix or World Cup result since her groundbreaking Gold in November of 2016. Second, this result has shot Anna up the World Rankings like a skyrocket: she came to Doha in 94th place, but she left in 65th place. Third, this will solidify her place in the American Top 4 – with Tokyo right around the corner.

Table of 8:

Ana Maria Popescu (Romania) d. Kat, 10-9 (OT) (Kat finished 6th)

Double ouch! Kat went down fighting – and it takes some quite good fighting to take the World No. 2 right down to the wire.

And there’s more: this is Kat’s first Grand Prix Top 8, so you know that’s going on the highlight reel. But, even more importantly, this result could definitely bump her back up into the American Top 4 (she’d fallen out after a rough Individual result in Havana). Just when Kat needed a big splashy result, she delivered. And even if it didn’t bring a medal, that’s still of heck of an accomplishment.

More coming soon!

Stay tuned, folks! 🙂