Hawaii’s Clay Stanley had a match-high 18 kills but it wasn’t enough as the U.S. dropped its FIVB World League final round opener to Germany,20-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20, 16-14 Thursday in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Clay, the starting opposite, added three blocks and an ace to lead all scorers. The Kaiser High product had three kills in Set 5, including the one that tied it at 14. But Germany used a service error by the Americans and a kill to close it out.

The U.S. takes on host Bulgaria today.