November 10, 2025 – Canada swept Costa Rica 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-15) on Sunday to secure fifth place at the 2025 NORCECA Girls’ U17 Continental Championship, held from November 4 to 9 in San José, Costa Rica.
Canada closed the event with a 4-2 win-loss record, while the host team finished 2-4. This was the second time in the tournament that Canada beat Costa Rica, having also done so during pool play.
Canada was dominant in attack points (40-11), along with a 7-6 edge in blocks and a 12-6 margin in service aces. The Canadians gave up 34 points on errors, while Costa Rica committed 16.
Winji Magdi (London, ON) led Canada’s offense with 19 points (16 kills, 1 block, 3 aces), followed by Elaina Grover (Toronto) with 12 points (9 kills, 3 blocks). Luciana Vargas was Costa Rica’s top scorer with 8 points, including 4 aces.
Canada’s head coach Sandra Lamb said: “Our goal coming in was to make sure that every day we got better, and I believe these girls grew a ton, they came together as a team, and they are learning how to be high-performance athletes. They demonstrated all the values and expectations we had of them coming into the tournament. I am super proud of the team.
“This last match (vs Costa Rica) was just an example of how much they have grown. Each time we put in different game plans and the girls were able to adapt and do things they had never done before. It was definitely a team effort.”
Overall, USA won gold beating Mexico, while Puerto Rico defeated Dominican Republic in the bronze-medal match.
Official web site: https://bit.ly/4qCLEpS
Photo and info: NORCECA
Team Canada U17
Hadley McEwen – Ontario
Ella Grapentine – Saskatchewan
Charlie Visser – Ontario
Naya Grimm- British Columbia
Chloé Dumont – Quebec
Elise Evanson – Alberta
Shayla Byrnell – Saskatchewan
Charlsey Goetz – Manitoba
Winji Magdi – Ontario
Elaina Grover – Ontario
Brooklyn Miller – British Columbia
Izabela Sajda – Ontario
Staff
Sandra Lamb – Head Coach
Andre Gendron – Assistant Coach/Team Lead
Mathew Schnarr – Assistant Coach
Kayla Vande Kemp – Athletic Therapist
Media Contact
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676