Hong Kong, China, June 24, 2016 - Louisa Lippmann continued her outstanding World Grand Prix form for Germany and scored a game-high 19 points, but United States were too good and denied the Germans their first win of this season's tournament, winning 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 30-28) in Hong Kong on Friday.
Nicole Fawcett scored a team-high 15 points for United States, who won their seventh match in straight sets out of their past eight World Grand Prix appearances.
Both teams worked hard to lead in the opening set but USA were able to gain the early advantage. Errors from Germany helped USA take an 8-4 lead at the first technical timeout, but despite being down by as much as six, Germany managed to recover and level things at 12-12. From there though, USA were able to maintain their form and pull away to take the opener 25-19.
Germany were doing their best to match USA in the early exchanges of the second, but Kimberly Hill was on-song and USA took an 8-5 lead into the first technical timeout. Fawcett was warming up nicely, but with clever play from Lippmann, Germany remained in touch. Fawcett was too powerful for Germany's block to give USA a 19-15 lead and from there they took the set 25-22.
Lippmann's impressive tournament, in which she led her team with 81 points heading into the match, continued at the start of the third set and Germany led 8-4 at the first technical timeout. Hill spiked well as USA clawed their way back into the set, hoping to win their third match from as many starts against Germany in the 2016 tournament. And that they did, holding out a determined opponent 30-28 in the the third to take it 3-0.