VNL 2025

Grozer chips in as Germany downs USA in five

Both teams keep their mathematical chances of making the Finals alive

Published 01:34, 19 Jul 2025

Germany (GER) vs. USA (USA) men - Pool 9 - Preliminary Phase #52156662

Gyorgy Grozer and his younger German teammates celebrate against the USA

40-year-old German star opposite Gyorgy Grozer made his first appearance in play during the men’s Volleyball Nations League this year and helped his team achieve a five-set victory over USA on Saturday in front of well over five thousand fans in Chiba, Japan. This result lifted Germany to 10^th place in the current VNL standings on a 5-6 win-loss record and 17 points and kept their mathematical chances of qualifying for the Finals alive. Just above them, in ninth place on 6-5 and 17, the Americans are also still within reach of the quarterfinal spots.

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Germany had the last word in this hard-fought rollercoaster match and celebrated a 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 17-25, 25-15, 15-12) victory over USA. Three players shared the team’s top scorer honors – outside hitter Erik Rohrs (two aces, two kill blocks), middle blocker Tobias Krick (one ace, two blocks) and opposite Yann Bohme (two aces) contributed 14 points each. Krick also registered an impressive 85% success rate in attack and delivered the match-winning point in the tie-breaker. Gyorgy Grozer was among the starters, but did not stay on the court for the whole match. He finished with 4 points, including an ace.

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“This was very important for our team, because in the last games we were not ourselves. So today we wanted to show that we are still the Germany we were last year and before. I am really proud of the team, because we showed something amazing, also from the young guys. They are new here, so we will work on this as I think this is the key,” Grozer told VBTV. “I am trying to find myself. I come from my holidays and I had a couple of practices, so it’s not so easy, but I am happy that I was on the court, when we at least won the first set. My job is to push the guys so they have again this fire inside them, and I think this was a great job today.”

USA’s opposite Kyle Hobus produced a match-high 18 points. Outside hitter Ethan Champlin added another 14 for the American side, while his cross-court teammate Nolan Flexen hammered three aces to finish with a 12-point total.

Saturday’s VNL action moves over to Ljubljana, where Serbia will take on Canada at 16:30 local time (14:30 UTC), and to Gdansk, where Bulgaria will challenge hosts Poland at 17:00 (15:00 UTC).