Araya/Varela from Costa Rica Crowned Champions

of the First Stage of the NORCECA U23 Tour

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, May 25, 2025.– Julián Araya and Jhostin Varela of Costa Rica were crowned champions of the first stage of the NORCECA U23 Tour, held on the spectacular beach of Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic. They clinched the title in a thrilling three-set match 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-12) against Americans Gage Basey and Thomas Hurst.

Araya and Varela reached the gold medal match after defeating Nicaragua’s Josué Meneses and Jesy Umaña in the semifinals in straight sets (21-15, 21-18). On the other side, Basey and Hurst advanced to the final after beating Dominican duo Ramón De Jesús and Rolvin Maldonado 2-0 (21-12, 21-16).

Third place went to Meneses and Umaña, who claimed the bronze medal by defeating De Jesús and Maldonado 2-0 (21-19, 21-14).

Fifth place was secured by Canadians Connor Dorsey and Aiden Hilkowitz, who beat El Salvador’s Gabriel Vargas and Carlos Mejía 2-0 (21-8, 27-25).

In the battle for seventh place, fellow Canadians Aidan Labossiere and Mason Doering earned a solid 2-0 victory (21-18, 21-12) over Stephen Watson and Dylan Lynee of the Cayman Islands. Ninth place went to Hondurans Jairo Gálvez and Isaac Méndez, who came from behind to defeat Barbados’ Julián Bristol and Jedediah Pencheon in three sets, 2-1 (13-21, 21-19, 17-15).

Daniel Delgado and José Guevara of Guatemala finished in eleventh place after a straight-set win over Trinidad and Tobago’s Jerome Morrison and Jahreef Miguel, 2-0 (21-16, 21-16).

Thirteenth place was claimed by Suriname’s Jamal Atman and Guy Lieveld, who defeated Kymani Greenidge and Cole Sommer of the Virgin Islands 2-0 (21-16, 21-19). Finally, Jared Brown and Kanif Wathey of the U.S. Virgin Islands finished in fifteenth place.