Lausanne, Switzerland, July 8, 2017 - Bulgaria host Germany Sunday in Ruse as the two teams come head-to-head for the very first tie in the history of the FIVB World Grand Prix. The hosts are undefeated after two matches this season, following a tie-break win over Korea on Saturday. But Germany ended a 10-match losing streak Saturday with a sweep of Kazakhstan.
Head-to-Head• Bulgaria and Germany will meet for the first time at the World Grand Prix.
• Bulgaria won six of their previous nine World Grand Prix matches against fellow European sides.
• Germany have met European teams on 40 occasions in the competition, winning only eight times.
Bulgaria• Bulgaria have won both of their matches so far at the 2017 World Grand Prix. They beat Kazakhstan 3-0 and Korea 3-2.
• In two of their previous four campaigns, Bulgaria also won their first two matches. In 2014 they won all of their eight matches while last year they managed to win their first three.
• Bulgaria have won eight of their 12 five-setters in the competition, including each of their last three.
• Nasya Dimitrova is Bulgaria's top scorer so far in the competition with 13 points against Kazakhstan and 16 points against Korea.
Germany• Germany won their most recent World Grand Prix match, a straight set victory over Kazakhstan, ending a 10-match losing streak which included all of their nine matches from last year.
• They could win consecutive World Grand Prix matches for the first time since a run of three in 2014. The first two of those victories also came in straight sets.
• Four of the last five World Grand Prix matches of Germany were played in three sets (W1-L3) with the exception of their 3-1 defeat against Korea in their first match.
• Louisa Lippman was both against Korea (24) and Kazakhstan (12) top scorer of all players on the field.