Puerto Rico wraps up NORCECA Championship

group stage with win

 

MONCTON, Canada, September 13, 2026. – Puerto Rico closed out its group stage schedule on a winning note Sunday at the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship.

 

After losses to the United States and Canada, the Puerto Ricans bounced back with a 3-0 win (25-18, 25-22, 25-23) over Curaçao. Puerto Rico finishes Group A play 1-2 to advance to a quarter-final matchup Monday at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, Canada.

 

Curaçao put up its best fight of the tournament so far but finished the group stage 0-3, without winning a set. Their best chance came in the third set when they held a 23-22 lead, but Puerto Rico scored the next three points to win, with Jair Daniel Santiago Sanchez striking the final blow.

 

The Puerto Ricans held the edge in attacks (48-40), blocks (8-7) and aces (4-2). Santiago led the way for the winners with 14 points, followed by Pedro Molina and Pelegrin Vargas with 10 each. Curaçao’s Marlison Kleinmoedig was the top overall scorer with 22 points.

 

Eight teams are competing for three berths to the 2027 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup in Poland, which will be decided Wednesday. The tournament will also determine the teams that advance to next weekend’s final NORCECA qualification stage for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

 

Curaçao will be back in action in a 5-8 classification match Tuesday.

 

Jamille Torres, Puerto Rico coach: “They played good and they’re having a good tournament. We just focused on the win we had to get. Now it’s being able to be rested, have a great match tomorrow, finish the tournament and be able to go to the next tournament.”

 

Dennis Del Valle, Puerto Rico libero: “I think our energy levels are a little bit down, especially our outside hitters. We only have two outside hitters so you can tell they’re a little tired. The energy from us was a little low, but we managed to get the win and minimize the mistakes. Congrats to them because they pushed us and (Kleinmoedig) was really good in scoring against us. Tomorrow we’ve got to bring everything we’ve got in the tank. It’s the most important game to move on to the semifinals and also qualify for the next tournament. We’ve got to bring our A game and find extra energy from somewhere.”