Canada on to Semifinals with Five-Set Thriller

Win over Dominican Republic

LEÓN, Guanajuato, July 30, 2025.- Canada secured a spot in the semifinals of the U23 Women’s Pan American Cup after defeating the Dominican Republic in a thrilling five-set battle, 3-2 (25-20, 19-25, 12-25, 25-21, 15-9) at the Domo de la Feria in León, Guanajuato.

The match was marked by long rallies and constant lead changes. In the first set, Canada pulled away 16-13 thanks to the offense of Raya Surinx and Lucy Borowski, while Madyson Saris controlled the net to secure the set.

The Dominican Republic responded in the second set, taking an early 7-2 lead with the power of Alondra Tapia and Katielle Alonzo to even the score. In the third, the Dominicans dominated from the start with an 8-1 run that left Canada with no answer, moving ahead in the match.

However, the fourth set told a different story. Led by Veronica Dickson, Borowski, and Surinx, Canada jumped to a commanding 10-0 advantage that set the tone. In the decisive fifth set, Jessica Andrews shined in both attack and blocking, teaming up with Madyson Saris to stop the Dominican Republic and seal the victory.

Despite conceding 44 points from unforced errors, Canada’s offensive edge (64-44 in attacks) was decisive, as well as leading 7-6 in blocks. The Dominican Republic held the advantage in aces 5-3 and committed 22 unforced errors.

Raya Surinx, Canada’s outside hitter, was the top scorer of the match with 23 points, while Madyson Saris and middle blocker Jessica Andrews each added 13. For the Dominican Republic, Alondra Tapia finished with 19 points and Katielle Alonzo with 18.

With this result, Canada advances to the semifinals and awaits its next opponent. The Dominican Republic will compete for positions 5 through 8.

“It was a rollercoaster” commented Matt Krueger, head coach of Canada. “The theme of this week for us is learning lessons and growing from those lessons, and I think we have done throughout the four games. When we went high, we went low and we learned from that and we made our changes, and we won. The challenge today was to stick to our game plan” he added.

Wagner Pacheco, Head Coach of the Dominican Republic, said: “It was a match with many highs and lows. At the moment, our team is like that because we have very young players. One of our outside hitters is only 17 and still in development. The team did everything it could; they fought, failed, and made mistakes. That’s volleyball.”