Canada Wins Battle Against Costa Rica at NORCECA U17

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica, November 5, 2025. – Canada earned a straight-set victory (25-18, 25-22, 25-18) over Costa Rica in Pool A action of the 2025 NORCECA Girls’ U17 Continental Championship at the Gimnasio Nacional in San José.

On the final day of the preliminary round, Canada (1-1) will face Suriname (0-2), while Costa Rica (1-1) will take on undefeated Dominican Republic (2-0). The event serves as a qualifier for the 2026 FIVB Girls’ U17 World Championship.

Canada led in attacking points (42-20) and service aces (9-1), while Costa Rica held the advantage in blocking (7-5) and committed fewer unforced errors (19-30).

Middle blocker Shayla Byrnell topped Canada’s offense with 10 points (6 kills, 4 blocks). Outside hitter Naya Grimm and middle blocker Chloe Dumont added 9 points apiece. For Costa Rica, outside hitter Sofía Quesada scored 9 points, all from kills.

The opening set was tight early on, tied at 3 points, before Canada surged ahead 10-6 behind the offense of Grimm and Winji Magdi, capitalizing on Costa Rica’s errors. Despite strong blocking from Charlotte Martinez and Esmeralda Ugalde, Canada maintained control, with Elaina Grover scoring key points on kills and blocks. Ella Grapentine sealed the set with an ace.

In the second set, Costa Rica took a 6-4 lead with efforts from Luciana Vargas and Sofía Quesada, but Canada quickly responded with Grover and Byrnell powering ahead 10-8. The score remained close until Canada broke an 18-18 tie with consecutive attacks from Izabela Sajda and Grapentine, who once again closed the set with an ace.

Canada built a comfortable 11-6 lead in the third set, fueled by Dumont and Sajda. Costa Rica fought back to within one point (14-15) thanks to Vargas’s offense, but Canada extended the lead again, with Byrnell contributing over the net. Dumont secured the final point with a kill to complete the sweep.

Sandra Lamb, Head Coach of Canada, said: “Today we stuck to our game plan a little bit more than yesterday, which made a big difference. We put a lot of service pressure on them, so with that we were able to execute our block a lot better than yesterday. Tomorrow against Suriname, they’ve got a big physical group, so we just need to focus on ourselves, control what we can, and execute again.”

Sofía Quesada, Costa Rica’s top scorer, said: “It was a very close and tough match. Canada is an incredible team. I feel that we gave our best effort, but we didn’t show our full potential. For tomorrow, we must improve our reception and be more effective in defense and attack.”