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The Dutch Eline Timmerman against Germany's top attacker Louisa Lippmann
Photo:
- / dpa
The German volleyball players have missed making it back to an EM quarter-finals for the first time since 2005.
The team headed by national coach Felix Koslowski, which started with the goal of the semi-finals, experienced a bitter disappointment on Saturday at 1: 3 (22:25, 25:23, 19:25, 23:25) against the Netherlands.
In the thrilling game in front of 670 spectators in Plovdiv in Bulgaria Louisa Lippmann was once again the best German attacker with 22 points.
Lina Alsmeier took care of the offensive with 18 points.
Anne Buijs (28) and Nika Daalderop (22) dominated the Dutch women.
The German defense found no antidote against these two attackers and was left behind in a close match.
Defeat in the group stage made for a difficult lot
One reason for the early exit was the strength of the opponents: Despite four wins and only one defeat in the 1: 3 against Poland in the preliminary round, the German team only managed to place third in the group, with the Dutch women placed second in their group such an unexpectedly difficult task arose.
Previously, the German volleyball players had missed the round of the best eight European Championship teams with eleventh place for the last time in 2005.
After that, they had reached at least the quarterfinals seven times in a row.
In 2011 and 2013, Germany even won silver.
cev / dpa / sid
