USA will play for gold at NORCECA Championship

 

MONCTON, Canada, September 15, 2026. – The United States will take on their northern neighbors Canada for gold the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship.

 

Team USA topped the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-19) Tuesday at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, earning a spot in Wednesday’s gold-medal game and one of three berths in the 2027 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup in Poland.

 

The Dominicans will meet Cuba in the bronze-medal match, with the third spot in those championships on the line as well. Dominican Republic has also earned a place in the weekend’s final NORCECA qualification stage for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, while the United States is already qualified as the host nation.

 

It was a strong performance for the undefeated Americans, who came out on top in attacks (44-27), blocks (9-2), aces (9-2). Dominican Republic did gain 23 points from errors, compared with USA’s 13.

 

Dominican Republic held an early lead in the first set and was up 11-10 before the Americans seized momentum and never looked back. Merrick McHenry led the way with 11 points for the United States, including a match-high three blocks, and Matthew Anderson added 10. Micah Ma’a had seven points, including five aces, and led the match with 30 running sets.

 

Adrian Figueroa was Dominican Republic’s top scorer with nine points. Enger Mieses and Edwad Rojas each had a match-high seven digs in a losing effort.

 

Karch Kiraly, US coach: “We’re incredibly happy to be qualified already and it’s a great day to do that on our middle #4 Jeff Jendryk’s birthday. We’re looking forward to a great match with Canada. It should be an awesome crowd here cheering them on.”

 

On Canada as gold medal opponent: “We had an incredible battle. We were down 2-0 and came back to win in the tie-breaker (June 13 at Volleyball Nations League) in Ottawa. I would expect nothing less than another huge battle tomorrow against a really good team from our friends from the north here in North America. All of our teams here want to represent our NORCECA zone really well when we get to competitions like the Olympics and next year’s World Cup.”

 

Merrick McHenry, USA: “It was super awesome. Obviously, we played Dominican a little bit earlier (in the group stage) so we didn’t really know what we were going to get but I think our team did a good job. Dominican started great in the first but I think we did a great job of just trusting the process and letting our game come. Everyone played so it just shows that every person on our roster is super talented, and anyone that goes on the court can win.”

 

On Canada as gold medal opponent: “It’s always a battle. We love playing Canada. They always make us better and we hope we do the same for them. I think this whole tournament, especially tonight, has given us a lot of confidence to play together one last time this summer. We’re super excited to battle Canada and see who can be the better team tomorrow.”