CHILE. August 16, 2026. The United States triumphed at the 2026 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship in Chile. The power of a strong high school and college sports program in the USA was put on display during Sunday’s final, which they won in convincing straight sets.
Sunday’s gold medal showdown at the National Stadium Park in the Chilean capital attracted well over two thousand fans to the stands. The American team delivered a 3-0 (25-23, 25-11, 25-23) victory over a spirited Turkish squad that kept the fire burning on the court, especially in sets one and three that could have gone either way.
While Türkiye tried to capitalize on the abundant unforced errors by the opponents (21 against only nine from the CEV team), USA outplayed their rivals on all scoring counts – 45-24 in spike kills, 9-4 in serving aces and 12-8 in kill blocks.
15-year-old opposite Kari Knotts was by far the best scorer of the match. Her match-high tally of 23 points included four aces and two kill blocks. Meanwhile, outside hitter Maya Ogbogu registered an impressive 78% success rate in attack and added two aces and two stuffs to her tally to finish with 18 points.
Two players on the Turkish squads reached the double digits in scoring with 10 points apiece. Opposite Cagla Caglayandere’s record included seven successful swings, two blocks and an ace, while outside Zeynep Doga Alpay put away nine points in offense and one in net defense.
Poland took Ninth place after a 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 25-16) win over Dominican Republic, leaving the NORCECA team Tenth in the final standings.
Following all the rest of the classification finals on Sunday, Poland, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, the Philippines, Czechia, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Tunisia, Puerto Rico, Chile, Egypt and Algeria, in that order, lined up in the places from ninth to 24th in the final standings.
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