Dominican Republic and Mexico claim women’s Pan American Cup silver and bronze with Empowerment

USA triumph on top of the podium in Leon

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Sep 21, 2026
Dominican Republic and Mexico claim women’s Pan American Cup silver and bronze with Empowerment

The national teams of the Dominican Republic (pictured in the main photo; source: @Norceca_Info) and hosts Mexico, with support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, earned the silver and the bronze medals, respectively, at last week’s Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup in Leon. The United States triumphed as champions.

The Dominican Republic has so far been granted a total of USD 1,050,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their women’s volleyball national teams, benefiting from the expertise of Brazilian head coach Marcos Kwiek. 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. Italian coaches Nicola Negro and Giulia Palazzo have been working with Mexico’s women’s national volleyball teams.

After losing to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic finished Pool A runners-up at the Pan American Cup in Leon on a 3-1 win-loss record, ahead of Canada, Nicaragua and Venezuela in the standings. In the quarterfinals, the Caribbean Queens delivered a 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-21) victory over Cuba and advanced to a semifinal clash with undefeated Mexico, who had topped Pool B after wins over USA, Cuba, Guatemala and Costa Rica and advanced straight to the last four.

After a five-set battle, the Dominicans disappointed the home crowd with a hard-fought 3-2 (19-25, 25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 15-12) victory to secure a spot in the final showdown and on the podium. They finished with their 11th silver medal. They also hold six golds and three bronzes.

In the other semifinal, the Americans put together a 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 28-26, 26-24) victory over Pool A winners Puerto Rico and went on to grab the gold after a 3-0 (28-26, 25-19, 25-18) sweep of the final against the Dominicans. This success gave USA their eighth gold medal in tournament history, adding to three silvers and five bronzes.

Mexico achieved a 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-23, 28-26) win over Puerto Rico to snatch the bronze, their first medal in the history of the competition.

“This is a very important medal. We played a high-level pool round and showed a much better level of volleyball than we did at the NORCECA Continental Championship,” Mexico’s coach Nicola Negro told norceca.net.

Puerto Rico, Canada, Cuba, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala, in that order, took the places from fourth to 10th in the final standings.

USA’s 24-year-old outside hitter Jessica Mruzik earned the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. The tournament’s Dream Team featured setter Rachel Fairbanks (USA), opposite Sofia Maldonado (Mexico), outside hitters Flormarie Heredia (Dominican Republic) and Aime Topete (Mexico), middle blockers Geraldine Gonzalez (Dominican Republic) and Emma Boyd (Canada), and libero Yaneirys Rodriguez (Dominican Republic). The latter was also named Best Digger, while Heredia also took the Best Scorer prize. Puerto Rico’s Valeria Vazquez and Ivania Ortiz were recognized as Best Receiver and Best Server, respectively.

All results, standings and statistics

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