Chile Defeats Canada in Four Sets and Shares Group Lead

ALAJUELA, Costa Rica, July 23, 2025. – Chile defeated Canada in four sets 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 22-25, 25-17) and now shares the top spot in Group B of the U21 Women’s Pan American Cup with the United States. The tournament is taking place at the Profesor Jorge Luis Solera Gymnasium at the Monserrat Sports Complex in Alajuela, Costa Rica.

In the first set, Chile built an early 3-point lead that they held throughout to go up 1-0. In the second set, they took control from the start with a 5-point advantage and maintained it until the end.

The third set was a back-and-forth battle, with Canada winning their first set of the tournament. The fourth and final set followed a similar pattern, but Chile came out on top to seal the victory.

Chile led in attacks (46-43), while Canada dominated in blocks (11-7). Both teams were tied in aces (5-5). Chile capitalized on Canada’s 39 unforced errors to secure the win.

Petra Schwartzman led Chile in scoring with 15 points (11 attacks, 2 blocks, and 2 aces). Dominga Aylwin also reached double digits with 13 points (12 attacks and 1 block). For Canada, Élodie Lalonde led with 18 points (17 attacks and 1 block), while Jessica Bergstrom added 11 points and set a tournament record for most blocks in a single match with 7.

Chile will face the United States on Thursday, July 24 at 5:00 PM (local time) to determine the group winner and a direct ticket to the semifinals. The loser of that match will advance to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Canada will face Puerto Rico at 3:00 PM (local time) in a match that will decide a spot in the quarterfinals.

Chile’s head coach Eduardo Guillaume said, “This is an extraordinary result for us. I think it’s the first time we’ve ever beaten Canada at any level, and it fills us with joy. We played a great match with a lot of character. We overcame a team that is physically and technically equal or even better than us, and that makes this victory even more emotional.”

Canada’s head coach Olivier Faucher commented, “Congratulations to Chile, they played great today, they didn’t give us anything. On our side, we couldn’t pass the ball, so our offense became really predictable. We had problems passing the ball well and that’s the main piece of our execution. I think we have to battle a little bit more, fight for every point, and our mindset must be on competing, to bring energy to the court because winning is not easy at this level. We’ll learn from this, grow together as a group, and come back tomorrow stronger.”