Germany rally from 0-2 down to beat Bulgaria, set up European Championship quarterfinal vs Poland
Germany's volleyball team staged a comeback from two sets down to defeat host Bulgaria in the European Championship round of 16, advancing to face Poland in the quarterfinals. Poland had earlier beaten Latvia in straight sets.
At the European Volleyball Championship on Saturday, September 19, Germany's national team pulled off a dramatic comeback in the round of 16, defeating host nation Bulgaria 3-2 on the road to reach the quarterfinals.
The match started poorly for Germany, who dropped the first two sets 21:25 and 21:25, putting them on the brink of elimination. In the third set, however, the German side took control and led for most of the way, closing it out 25:19.
Germany again fell behind in the middle of the fourth set but managed to level things up and claimed the set 25:23, forcing a decisive fifth set. There, the Germans were the stronger side, winning 15:12 and disappointing the home crowd gathered in Sofia.
Top scorers
Erik Röhrs led Germany's scoring with 20 points and also excelled at the net, adding three blocking points. Anton Brehme contributed 14 points and Tobias Krick Brand added 13.
For Bulgaria, Aleksandar Nikolov was the top scorer with 23 points, while Asparuh Asparuhov added 13.
Both teams struggled with serving errors — Germany missed 26 of 107 serves, while Bulgaria was unsuccessful on 27 of 104 attempts.
In the quarterfinal on September 22, Germany will face Poland, which had earlier swept Latvia 3-0 in the round of 16.
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