NOGALES, Mexico – Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball head coach John Hawks and middle blocker Aidan Klein helped USA Volleyball win gold at the 2024 U21 NORCECA Continental Championship with a straight set win (25-18, 25-21, 27-25) over Canada Sunday evening in Nogales, Mexico.

"Playing Canada, a really good team, in the final and winning in three sets was just super cool," said Hawks who led the group. "The feeling of winning a medal in front of a crowd like that never gets old. To see our guys rewarded with all their hard work and dedication to each other was super cool. They're 12 guys that came in and were challenged from the start. They're from all around the country and had to gel and play with each other at a high-level in such a short amount of time. It was special,"

The team's gold medal at the event was its first since 2016. The 2024 edition was the first NORCECA Men's U21 Continental Championship since 2018, where the U.S. finished in fourth place.

Before the team took first place in Mexico, the group spent a week training in Colorado Springs at the Olympic & Paralympic Training Center.

"It was an amazing experience for me," said Loyola and team USA middle blocker, Klein. "For me, it was my first time on the team. Lots of the guys have done it before, but it was great to meet everyone. Training in Colorado Springs was a lot of fun and super competitive. We had two training blocks a day, and then we would do recovery, and get some rest in."

After a successful week of training, Hawks' squad began the five-day event with a sweep of Nicaragua (25-20, 25-17, 25-12). The U.S. hit an impressive .638 through the match and never trailed. The Red White and Blue continued its dominance with another sweep (25-12, 25-15, 25-15) of Suriname on Wednesday. 

In a tough match in front of a loud home crowd, the U.S. dropped just one set (25-13, 25-20, 22-25, 25-16) to host Mexico. The victory gave the team a first-place finish in its pool and a bye into the semifinals.

In the semis, the U.S. played its way into the gold medal match after dismantling Cuba in straight sets (25-20, 25-21, 25-16).

The championship match versus Canada was a dramatic one, despite the U.S. winning in sweeping fashion (25-18, 25-21, 27-25). A U.S. block set up match point, but Canada responded with a pair of points for set point before Sterling Foley (USC) and Parker Tomkinson (USC) sealed the championship.  

The victory guaranteed the U.S. a spot in the 2025 FIVB U21 World Championship. The tournament will be held in Aug. - Sept. 2025 in a yet-to-be-determined host nation. For the first time, the field will feature 24 teams, per FIVB's June 2023 decision. Iran are the defending champions.

"It's a different beast, the World Championship," Hawks continued. You're dealing with every great country that's won their region. From Italy to Brazil, Argentina, Poland, France - we trained with the mindset of, we're not just here to win gold, like we did, but we're training to go to the World Championship. I'm fortunate as the head coach in 2011, I took the team to Brazil, and we had the highest finish the U.S. has ever had at the U21s which was fourth. We just missed out on medaling that year, and we beat Russia who ended up winning gold. I felt like we were super close. You have to be lucky; you have to be good, and you kind of have to ramp up at the right time. I feel like with this group, we have the physicality do it. We're probably going to make another roster change just going into next summer. We'll pick another 12, improve, and aim for gold at the World Championships. It would be incredible for us."