One of France's best young players has committed her future to playing in the United States with Hawaii.
Ema Vernoux, 20, currently at Lille, will join the Wahine after competing in her home Olympics in Paris in a few weeks' time.
The younger cousin of Thomas and Roman-Marion, Ema Vernoux hails from Nice. Without a women's team in her hometown, Vernoux traveled to play for Nice before alternating her time with the French champions Lille and training at the INSEP—France's high-performance center—ahead of the Paris Olympic Games.
While with the French national team, Vernoux has played a key role in the country's best-ever finishes at the World Championships (8th in 2022, 9th in 2023) and a top-6 finish at the European Championships, the best in 34 years.
Hawaii, competing in the Big West conference, boasts one of the best female programs in the USA and is a five-time NCAA semi-finalist, most recently this year.