Calgary, Aug. 10, 2025: The United States won gold over Team Canada today at the 2025 NORCECA U21 Men’s Pan American Cup at the 7 Chiefs Sportsplex & Chief Jim Starlight Centre near Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
USA won 3-1 (26-24, 25-21, 22-25, 25-18) in front of a crowd cheering for their young Canadian squad, who pick up a silver medal.
In the final today, attack points were equal at 44 and blocks favored USA 11-7. Canada had one more ace than USA (3-2) but made more errors (41-34).
Head coach of Team USA, John Hawks, commented: “Today’s match was a bit ugly, from the service line both teams missed a lot of serves, and there were other battles … But this is why we came here – It was great preparation for us before the Worlds. Playing in front of a great crowd, playing a great team and I think the best team won today. We played consistently in all the tournament and made a lot of progress. The confidence is there and we’re ready to go to China (for the Worlds).”
Captain Sebastiano Sani of the U.S. was match top scorer with 18 points (15 kills, 2 blocks and an ace). Daniil Hershtynovich was again Canada’s top scoring contributor with 15 points (14 kills and one block)
Chris Voth, head coach of Team Canada, said: “I think it was the best match of the tournament and for us that’s great to do that under pressure in the final. So I couldn’t have asked for more from the guys. I am proud of how we battled and built up throughout the tournament. Congratulations to USA for putting up a great match and having a great tournament.
We still have things to improve on before the Worlds, so we’ll be working on that. We’ve learned a lot here.”
Both teams are heading off to the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship in China later this month.