May 16, 2026: Canada will play for gold in front of a home crowd on Sunday after winning its semifinal today at the U19 NORCECA Boys’ Continental Volleyball Championship at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Canada made quick work of Costa Rica beating them 3-0 (25-6, 25-12, 25-21) in just 50 minutes on Saturday.

Canada's U19 head coach Adam Schriemer said post-match: “I thought our guys were really dialed in at every phase. We were sharp in how we organized our block defense, that’s why we had those first two sets go the way they did, but on the flip side, it got pretty sloppy in our offensive execution at times. We gave our opponent a lot of points …. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the way they handled themselves.

"We need to quickly evaluate – acknowledge what we were good at and what we can do better and move on. We will compete against a very battle-tested team in the final. We will have our hands full tomorrow and we’ll be ready to compete!"

Canada dominated in attack points (37-13), blocks (10-4) and aces (11-3). Costa Rica gained more points from Canada’s errors (19-17).

Outside hitter Hendrix Lepp led scoring stats with 16 points (10 kills, 2 blocks and 4 aces); followed by teammate Julian Josephs with 15 (10 kills, 2 blocks and 3 aces), both for Canada.

"I think the difference today was playing as a team and our serving really that got us through in the end,” said Lepp, who is the team captain. "In the third, we just stayed calm and trusted each other, and it worked out. I’m really happy with our progress this week. It’s a great team."

Canada will play USA for gold at 4 pm Pacific time on Sunday. Costa Rica plays Mexico for bronze earlier at 2 pm PT.

As top four, Canada also earned a berth to the 2027 U19 World Championship.

Tickets are still available or watch on CBC Sports, CBC Gem & YouTube.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/norceca-u19-tournament-4828765

U19 Athletes
1 - Joaquin Lopez - Markham, ON
3 - Jaden Hoff – St. Catharines, ON
4 - Hendrix Lepp – Vancouver, BC
5 - Lennon Mari – Lloydminster, SK
6 - Hudson Penz – Red Deer, AB
8 - Jacob Hughes – Vancouver, BC
9 - Nathan Herfst – Burnaby, BC
11 - Andrew Pook – Cambridge, ON
12 - Joseph Vanderkooi – Abbotsford, BC
15 - Jordan Low-Ring – Toronto, ON
22 - Cameron Johansen– Toronto, ON
23 - Odin Pleau – Waterloo, ON
51 - Justin Jamieson – Sandford, ON
99 - Julian Josephs – Uxbridge, ON

Head Coach: Adam Schriemer
Assistant Coach: Scott Koskie
Assistant Coach: Andrew Jones
Athletic Therapist: Tristan Sandhu
Physiotherapist & Medical Lead: Victoria Drouin
Performance Analyst: Martin Ambrozic
Team Manager: Cassandra Nicol
High-Performance Director: Julien Boucher

Additional tournament information is available here.

Explore Burnaby is the presenting sponsor of the tournament.

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