September 1, 2025.- USA lived up to their status of match favorites against their North American neighbors Canada on Monday and swept the seventh 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship eighthfinal in Bangkok in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinal stage of the competition. USA’s opponent in the quarterfinals on Thursday is Türkiye, serving off at 20:30 local time.
A block-out kill by sub-in opposite Stephanie Samedy delivered USA’s winning point in their 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-21) victory over Canada.
The Americans outplayed their opponents in net defense by 11-6 in kill blocks, and in offense by 42-38 in successful swings. They also capitalized on the 19 unforced errors Canada made, against the 12 committed on their side of the net. Outside hitters Avery Skinner and Sarah Franklin shared the top scorer honors of the match with 13 points apiece for the winners. The latter was also one of the best blockers of the match with three stuffs to her name. Opposite Madisen Skinner chipped in with another 12 points.
“We are feeling really good. We are trying to get to the gym every day and just work to be better and better, and that’s going to show in the game. It’s super exciting for us and we are continuing to push that,” Franklin. “All the older girls kind of took us all in and showed us the ropes. So, all of us younger girls, we are ready to learn, we are ready to do whatever needs to be done for us. We are all super excited to continue to compete. And having the USA jersey on is always an honor and it is what pushes us to do better and better.”
Serving was the only scoring element, in which Canada outperformed their rivals, by 4-3 in aces. Authoring one of those aces and putting away three kill blocks, 21-year-old opposite Anna Smrek emerged as the team’s leading scorer with a total of 12 points.
“I think this entire summer was a big part about learning and growing, and trying to just grow our skill set. A lot of us are new to this whole experience – VNL, World Championship. I think in terms of the long-term goals over the summer, to get to the round of 16 is great,” Smrek commented after the game. “Obviously, we fell short, but kudos to the USA – they fought hard – so, we will exit with our head held high. I think we started competing for it a little bit late, especially in sets, we let them get ahead of us and then we were playing catch-up. We had our chances against the USA in the VNL. We wanted it, but again, we did not start competing until later on. So, we just need to get at it from the jump, and I think it could be a really good match-up.”
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