--- title: "Canada and Mexico win silver and bronze at NORCECA Men’s Volleyball Final Six in Ponce, Puerto Rico; USA secures fourth consecutive gold." sdDatePublished: "2026-09-01T12:28:00Z" source: "https://www.fivb.com/canada-and-mexico-make-norceca-mens-final-six-podium-with-empowerment/" topics: - name: "sport" identifier: "medtop:15000000" - name: "sport event" identifier: "medtop:20001108" - name: "sport achievement" identifier: "medtop:20001301" - name: "sport organisation" identifier: "medtop:20001125" locations: - "Ponce" - "Dominican Republic" - "Puerto Rico" - "Guatemala" - "United States" - "Mexico" - "Canada" --- Canada and Mexico win silver and bronze at NORCECA Men’s Volleyball Final Six in Ponce, Puerto Rico; USA secures fourth consecutive gold. Canada and Mexico make NORCECA Men’s Final Six podium with Empowerment – FIVB Benefiting from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment support, Canada and Mexico picked up silver and bronze at last week’s NORCECA Men’s Volleyball Final Six held in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The United States won the continental tournament for the fourth time in a row. Volleyball Canada has so far been allocated a total of USD 1,702,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national volleyball teams, USD 75,000 in volleyball equipment, and another USD 12,000 in knowledge transfer programs. Their men’s national volleyball teams have been benefitting from the expertise of coach David Preston. Mexico’s national teams in volleyball and beach volleyball have been the beneficiaries of a total of USD 1,648,000 combined in coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment so far. In addition, USD 115,000 in volleyball equipment has been granted to the Mexican federation. Brazilian coach Carlos Schwanke is at the helm of Mexico’s men’s national volleyball team. The NORCECA Men’s Volleyball Final Six held in Ponce started with the round-robin stage, which was won by USA on a 5-0 win-loss record. Canada, Mexico and hosts Puerto Rico lined up from second to fourth, in that order, on 3-2 each, leaving the Dominican Republic (1-4) and Guatemala (0-5) in fifth and sixth. In one of the semifinals (pictured in the main photo; source: norceca.net) , Canada defeated Mexico in straight sets for the second time in the tournament. With a 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-22) victory, the Canadians advanced to the final, while the Mexicans moved on to the third-place match. In the other semifinal, USA mastered a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-23) shutout of Puerto Rico and went on to finish the tournament undefeated with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-21) sweep of the gold medal match against Canada, thus collecting four (consecutive) gold and two bronze medals in the history of the competition. Canada earned their fifth silver medal out of five final match appearances. “It has been a really tough tournament for us. I’m very proud of our effort. I think we did everything we could to reach this point,” Canada’s coach David Preston told norceca.net. Mexico won the bronze medal after defeating Puerto Rico by 3-2 (25-21, 25-18, 21-25, 24-26, 15-12) in a tough five-set battle for the third place. “That’s what I wanted: to see the fight for third place, for the bronze medal,” Mexico’s coach Carlos Schwanke commented. “Sometimes it’s hard to motivate players after losing the opportunity to reach the final. But they played well, served well, and played as a team. I expect constant improvement. That’s what we’re looking for, especially regarding the World Ranking. These matches against Puerto Rico give us a lot of points, so it’s very important to leave this tournament with two victories over them.” In the fifth-place game, the Dominican Republic beat Guatemala by 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-18). USA’s 20-year-old setter Tread Rosenthal earned the Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors. The Dream Team was made up of setter Adolfo Rivas Morales (Guatemala), opposite Andy Leonardo Blanco (Guatemala), outside hitters Sean Kelly (USA) and Pelegrin Vargas (Puerto Rico), middle blockers Parker Tomkinson (USA) and Moises Ortiz (Dominican Republic), and libero Darian Picklyk (Canada). Puerto Rico’s Klistan Lawrence claimed the Best Scorer award. Dominican Republic’s Hector Cruz took the Best Server award. The Best Receiver recognition went to USA’s Troy Gooch, while Josue Gonzalez of Guatemala was named Best Digger. 2026 NORCECA Men’s Volleyball Final Six: results, standings and statistics From ambition to the podium: Gibraltar celebrates historic breakthrough through Volleyball Empowerment World’s number one team Poland win prestigious Hubert Wagner Memorial at home Canada and Mexico make NORCECA Men’s Final Six podium with Empowerment Van Vegten & De Groot from Empowerment-funded Netherlands earn Modena Futures silver Teams from Empowerment-funded Czechia and Latvia snatch all six Brno Futures medals Thailand retain AVC Continental title to secure first-ever Olympic berth Canada secure LA28 Olympic berth to complete historic NORCECA double Iran captain Sina Hazrati named MVP of Boys’ U17 World Championship Iran hold off France in four sets to clinch Boys’ U17 world title