Mexico Defeats Canada to Stay in Contention for the Final

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, September 3, 2026.- Mexico earned an important 3-1 (25-23, 25-14, 14-25, 25-19) victory over Canada to improve its record to 2-1 and remain in contention for one of the top two spots that advance to the championship match of the NORCECA U23 Women’s Pan American Cup.

Mexico took control of the match in the first two sets, applying pressure from the service line and showing efficiency in attack. In the opening set, Mexico built a 20-13 lead before holding off Canada’s comeback to win 25-23, and in the second, quickly stretched its advantage to 21-11 on the way to a 25-14 win.

Canada responded in the third set with adjustments to its lineup and a stronger presence in blocking and serving. Lauryn Hovey contributed six points in the set, while Mexico’s offense lost some of its effectiveness, allowing the Canadians to extend the match with a convincing 25-14 win.

In the fourth set, Mexico regained control and Aime Topete took charge offensively with 14 points, 12 of them on attacks, to lead her team to the decisive 25-19 win.

Topete finished as the match’s leading scorer with 26 points, the highest single-match scoring performance by a player in the tournament so far. Captain María Cruz Solar contributed 22 points and Michelle Lizárraga added 12. Hovey led Canada with 22 points.

Mexico held a 53-39 advantage in kills and 9-8 in serves, while Canada led in blocks 11-7. Mexico gave up 23 points on errors compared to 20 by Canada.

The victory allowed Mexico to bounce back from its loss to the Dominican Republic the previous day and strengthen its position in the race for the championship match. Canada, meanwhile, dropped to 1-2.

On Friday, Canada will face the Dominican Republic at 3:00 p.m., while Mexico will take on Costa Rica at 5:00 p.m.

Luis León López, head coach of Mexico: “We improved quite a bit compared to yesterday’s match against the Dominican Republic and got back on track. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the result yesterday, but we did today. As we told the players, the competition continues and we can’t keep thinking about yesterday’s match because there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it now. We analyzed Canada, a team that has a big physical advantage over us, and we knew we had to serve very aggressively so they wouldn’t have all their attacking options available and we could counter with blocking, defense and effective counterattacks.”

María Cruz, captain of Mexico: “We’re very excited, very happy. Yesterday was a difficult match for us, and we knew we had to change our attitude, change everything. We did it, it worked, and we’re happy with today’s result. We had a talk among ourselves as a team. We know we came here with the goal of reaching the podium and that we needed to change our mindset. We did that, and it showed today.”

“I think the key was communication among all of us, talking to each other in blocking, attacking, reception and defense, and above all following the instructions the coaches were giving us from the sidelines,” Cruz added.

Matthew Krueger, head coach of Canada: “We started very slow, obviously. Mexico put a lot of pressure on us from the service line and with their attack, and we were playing from behind right from the start. We made some changes, and I thought the players who came into the match did a fantastic job and helped us settle down. When we started playing Canada-style volleyball, we competed very well. We just have to do a better job of playing that way from the beginning, but congratulations to Mexico. They played fantastic. They’re super skilled and very well coached.”

“We’re excited about the two matches we have left. There’s a lot of good competition here, and for us, playing against these teams is wonderful. We’re going to recover and get ready again for the next two matches. It’s a good challenge for us, and we like it,” Krueger added.