Ruse, Bulgaria, Jul 9, 2017 - Germany's Jennifer Geerties scored 19 points in her team's 3-2 (25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 17-25, 15-13) upset of the hosts on Sunday.
Geerties's teammate Tanja Grosser added 13 points for the winners, while on the other side of the net Nasya Dimitrova finished the night with 16.
The match was a close one from the get-go. Germany managed to win two of the first three tightly-contested sets. In the fourth, the hosts were determined to force a tiebreak and relied on their enthusiastic crowd’s support to help them to a comfortable 25-17.
The tiebreaker was a real thriller. Bulgaria got off to a better start going 6-3 up. They maintained the lead for a few minutes, but at 8-5 down Germany picked up the pace and they soon found themselves in the driver’s seat at 10-9. Bulgaria were able to keep up with the visitors for a while, but in the crucial moments, it was Germany who held their nerve better and they earned two match points at 14-12. They converted the second one to win the tiebreak and the entire match, 3-2.