April Ross and Alix Klineman surpassed all expectations for their young partnership when they breezed through the first four-star FIVB beach volleyball event of the year, winning a gold medal at the Dela Beach Open in The Hague, Netherlands. It was Klineman’s first FIVB beach tournament ever. 

Ross and Klineman announced their partnership in November and pledged their intention to pursue a spot in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics together. Klineman had been playing professionally indoors since her graduation from Stanford in 2010, but last summer decided to test her skills on the beach. 

The American pair played more matches than anyone else in the tournament, as they were forced to play in the country quota round before they could even enter the qualifier. In the country quota, Ross and Klineman defeated Betsi Flint and Kelley Larsen 21-16, 21-13, then took down Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar 15-21, 21-18-15-8. 

Once in the qualifier, the two women seemed to hit their stride, holding both qualifier opponents to 15 points or fewer in every set, and then winning all their matches in the main draw in straight sets. 

In the gold medal match, facing 12-time FIVB gold medalist Maria Antonelli and Carolina Salgado, Ross and Klineman raced to the finish, annihilating the Brazilian team 21-12, 21-15.

After the duo defeated Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic in the semifinals, a member of the broadcast team alluded to the comparisons that people are making between Klineman and Ross’ former partner Kerri Walsh Jennings, and Ross replied, “If I’m honest, it feels better so much better than that even out there right now.”

Most likely, the next tournament for the American pair will be the Fort Lauderdale Major in Florida, February 27 to March 4. Since the Dela Beach Open was played in an indoor facility, Fort Lauderdale will mark Klineman’s first true outdoors international beach tournament, but luckily a boost of points from winning the first event of the year will go far to securing the pair a good seed.