Puerto Rico advances to U21 final

Toronto, Canada. June 29, 2024:  Puerto Rico will play in the gold-medal final after beating the host country today the Women’s NORCECA U21 Continental Championship at the Pan Am Sports Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

After a tight first couple of sets, Puerto Rico managed to sweep Canada 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-16). Puerto Rico led in attack points 42-29, and aces 5-2. Canada led in blocking points 6-2. Canada also made more errors 27-24.

Outside hitter Chareika Carrión had a match-high 19 points and teammate Camila Soto contributed 12 to the winning side.

Opposite Maëli Cormier was Canada’s top scorer with 8 points.

Puerto Rico’s Captain, Chareika Carrión said: “We played united as a team, our passes were always there and we were mentally ready. This team is all about players that are younger than the norm. I’m very happy because we’re going to the finals with such a young and great team. We’re ready for the next game because we’ve already played against the USA and we’re ready to play them again.”

Head coach Puerto Rico, Jose Ricardo Rivera: “We are really happy we won. Our goal when we came to this tournament was to finish in the top four. This is the first time we have been in the U21 Norceca championship final, so we’re happy and proud we are in the final against USA. They are a really strong, tall team with a lot of discipline.”

Head coach of Canada, Olivier Faucher : “I think tonight we had a lot of missed opportunities. We were right there in the first two sets, we had our chances and we just couldn’t convert. The message I told the players is that they have to learn from this and get ready for the bronze medal match tomorrow.  We need to deliver our best performance tomorrow.

The medal finals will be held on Sunday June 30.