LEÓN, Guanajuato, July 31, 2025. – In a thrilling battle, the United States defeated Mexico 3-2 (20-25, 27-25, 25-20, 21-25, 15-10) in the semifinals of the Women’s U23 Pan American Cup, held at the Domo de la Feria in León, Guanajuato.
With the victory, the U.S. will play for the gold medal for the first time in the history of the event, facing Canada, which also advanced after a tight five-set battle against Cuba. The bronze medal will be decided between Mexico and Cuba.
The match was evenly contested from start to finish. Mexico dominated the first set with a solid attack, while the United States responded in the second with a more aggressive offense, sealing the set with an ace from Lauren Rumel.
In the third set, strong reception from libero Emily Kilka allowed the U.S. to find more gaps and take the lead on the scoreboard.
Mexico refused to back down and, fueled by the home crowd, forced a fifth set thanks to Aimé Topete’s attacks, who held a four-point lead in the fourth set.
In the tiebreak, middle blocker Ifennamaka Cos-Okpalla led the U.S. with her blocking, supported by Jurnee Robinson’s reach over the net and Chloe Chicoine’s effectiveness, doubling Mexico in points 10-5. Although Aimé Topete saved a match point (14-9), it was a powerful spike from Eva Hudson that sealed USA’s historic berth to the championship match.
“We just thought we’re going to grind this out. Mexico is a great team and loves to rally, we knew it was going to be hard, so we were just going to go out swinging. I think we were a little intimidated by the crowd at the beginning. We found our flow and comfort from each other” said Eva Hudson who scored the winning point for the U.S.
Head Coach Marie Zidek said “Mexico is a very intelligent team; they played with very high quality over long periods of time. I thought we had some nice service runs which created two-three points of space, and our blocks had a couple of more touches. Mexico is a tremendous team, I just can’t believe we won.
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