June 28, 2024: In the first five-set match of the tournament on Thursday evening, Canada managed to win the tie-break over Mexico and now advances directly to the semifinals of the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.  

The score was Canada 3 Mexico 2 (25-21, 27-25, 15-25, 24-26, 15-10).

Canada led the attack 57-48 and won more blocking points 14-10, but Mexico had 12 aces, compared with Canada’s four. Canada also made more errors (37-31).

Ella Piskorz scored 17 points (including five blocks and two aces) for Canada as that team’s lead scorer, which was equaled by Mexico’s Isabella Ocampo, who had 17 points her team.

Canada’s Veronica Dickson, who scored 13 points in this match, said: “There was definitely some adversity to overcome in the last couple sets but I believe in each and every single one of our team. I knew we could do it and we get a day off on Friday, so it’s nice to get some rest and be ready for the semifinals.”

Canada’s head coach Olivier Faucher was pleased with his team’s performance: “It’s good to have this experience. After two sets, it was a hard battle and we were on top, but then Mexico started to play a lot better. A match like this is an opportunity for us to learn and battle to that fifth set.  … The important thing is that we got the win, and we will learn from this. There are two big matches coming up and so it was important for us to face this challenge.”

USA also advanced directly to the semifinals, which will be held on Saturday June 29 beginning at 4:30 ET. This event is a qualifier for the 2025 Women's U21 World Championships.

Quarterfinals (June 28)
16:30  PUR VS CRC
19:00  MEX VS DOM

Live stream: www.cbcsports.ca
Ticket and event info: https://volleyball.ca/en/competitions/u21-norceca-continental-championship

Women’s Final 6 Update
Also on Thursday evening, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Mexico beat Canada’s NexGen team 3-1 (25-21, 25-14, 20-25, 26-24) in their opener at the NORCECA Women´s Final Six Volleyball tournament at the “Ricardo Arias” National Volleyball Pavilion.

Today Canada plays USA at 5 pm ET.

Canada's roster
Event info: www.norceca.net
Matches are streamed on YouTube

Photo: Michael P. Hall

Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676