Bydgoszcz, Poland, June 5, 2018 – Louisa Lippmann and Britt Herbots engaged in a fiery duel during the Germany vs. Belgium FIVB Volleyball Nations League game in Bydgoszcz, with Lippmann emerging victorious in both the top scorer chart and the result of the match – 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 25-23) in favour of the Germans.
Lippmann was on fire throughout the game, contributing a fantastic 28 points to her squad’s victory, delivering 12 of them in the last set of the match only.
While captain Maren Fromm (14 points) and Jennifer Geerties (13 points) kept Lippmann good company in the German attack, it was the setter, Denise Hanke, who was not only instrumental in their spiking success, but also scored points on all elements herself – two spikes, one stuff block and two aces.
On the other side of the net, Britt Herbots scored 23 times, with as many as 17 of her points arriving in sets 3 and 4 to bring Belgium back into the match.
With Germany cruising comfortably through the first two sets, it was Herbots, whose improving efforts in Belgium’s offence changed the momentum in the match, getting them close to extending it to a fifth set. It was not to be as Lippmann wouldn’t hear of it, especially in the fourth set.
Clearly annoyed by Belgium’s success in the third set, Louisa Lippmann stormed into the fourth with three points in a row for an early 3-0 German lead, adding the fourth with a monster block, but only after the Belgians had tied it at 3-3, not without contribution from Britt Herbots.
A beautiful back row shot by Lippmann gave Germany a 9-5 lead, but even this did not put Belgium off. Closing a very long rally with a successful spike for 12-12, Herbots followed it up with an ace to put Belgium in the lead for the first time in the set.
It was time for Lippmann to react. Even though the Belgian advantage got extended to three points, she fired a ball at 90.2 km/h to get a German mini comeback started. Four rallies down the road, which included a superb pipe shot by Herbots and two successful attacks by Lippmann, it was all level again – 16-16.
Winning two mega rallies in a row, Belgium kept the pace, but not only that – two consecutive shots by Herbots gave them a 20-18 lead. In fact, Herbots scored her team’s remaining points in the match, but this was not enough to keep Germany at bay. A high-flying super pipe by Lippmann put the Germans back in the lead at 22-21, and it was Lippmann again that put the ball on the floor to deliver a match point.
Symbolically, it was Herbots that waved the white flag on behalf of Belgium, spiking long to seal Germany’s win.