Team USA took home the gold in the 2025 North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) Final Six tournament on Sunday, Sept. 21. Among the members of the team was Creighton University’s very own Jaali Winters, who graduated from the Heider College of Business in 2019, and Norah Sis, who graduated from the College of Nursing in 2025.
“Overall, I’m proud that I got to be part of the experience, and I’m so happy to have won my first gold medal with Team USA. It’s a memory I’ll keep forever; getting to stand on top of the podium with all my teammates and celebrating bringing home gold,” Winters said via email.
Winters and Sis both served as the outside hitters for Team USA. Similarly, at Creighton, Winters was an outside hitter from 2015-2018, while Sis was an outside hitter from 2021-2024.
According to the NORCECA Volleyball Confederation website, the tournament, which began on Sept.15, began with a five-day round robin preliminary between the Dominican Republic, Canada, Cuba, the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico. After each team competed against each other, the top four advanced to the semi-finals, which took place on Sept. 20, before the final two teams competed in the gold medal match on Sept. 21. Team USA remained undefeated throughout all their matches, losing a total of five sets during the entire tournament.
“We had some ups and downs performance-wise, but I don’t think our confidence wavered much, which was the most important thing. It wasn’t always perfect volleyball, but the belief in each other and our will to win really set us apart. I’m proud of how we showed up in big moments,” Winters said via email.
In preparation for this international volleyball competition, Winters, Sis and the team trained in Anaheim, Calif. With new teammates and six weeks of training, Team USA was able to defeat Canada (3-0), Cuba (3-2), the Dominican Republic (3-1), Mexico (3-1) and Puerto Rico (3-0) in the preliminary round, then the Dominican Republic (3-1) in the semi-finals, and finally Mexico (3-0) in the gold medal match.
“I think the biggest challenge was that other teams there had been playing together for many years, and we had a brand-new squad that trained together for just six weeks. We had to find cohesion somewhat quickly. We were able to find great chemistry as a team in those six weeks,” Winters said via email.
Nevertheless, despite all of the challenges, Winters said she was very grateful for the opportunity to compete as a member of Team USA.
“I am so proud of the way our team competed, and I’m so grateful that I got to be a part of it. It’s always a huge honor to wear the USA jersey and get to compete at a high level,” Winters said via email. “We had such a fun, gritty and talented group of players and it was a blast to be a part of it.”