Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss overcame a difficult start on Thursday at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 to end the day at the Am Rothenbaum Stadium with two wins and a spot in the elimination rounds under their belts.

The Americans were one of four women's teams to go undefeated on the first day of the main draw in Germany and will be back on the court on Friday, when they will try to claim the first place in Pool C and a direct spot in the quarterfinals.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 matches live on VBTV

Coming from a fifth-place finish at the Montréal Elite16 three weeks ago, the Americans were strongly challenged by Germans Karla Borger and Sandra Ittlinger in their first match in Hamburg, but still managed to win in straight sets (23-21, 21-17).

A few hours later, they went back on the court to face the recently-crowned European champions Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli of Switzerland and recovered from an inconsistent first set to take the match in the tie-breaker (11-21, 21-16, 15-12) and guarantee a spot in the elimination rounds.

“I think that we ended the day playing much better than we started it, so we hope we can carry that second set and third set momentum into tomorrow,” Nuss analyzed. “I definitely think we need to clean up serve-receive and I think we can apply more service pressure on the other team.”

The only team with two victories in their pool, the 26-year-old Kloth and the 25-year-old Nuss will complete their pool play schedule on Friday, at 14:00 local time (12:00 UTC), against French Lézana Placette and Alexia Richard, who lost to Brunner and Hüberli 2-0 (22-20, 21-11) and swept Borger and Ittlinger (21-16, 21-17) in their second match.

“Our pool here in Hamburg is stacked, as every other pool in an Elite16 event,” Kloth reflected. “Every match is a battle and we have to show up for each one of them. For tomorrow, we know that the French always come out with a lot of energy, they’re very fiery and they get a lot of touches. The big things for us will be staying locked in and making sure the ball is actually down because they get really incredible, crazy digs.”

Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 – Match Schedule and Results

Reigning world champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos were the top team in Pool A on the first day of the main draw in Hamburg and are also guaranteed in the elimination rounds. The Brazilians swept (22-20, 21-18) Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova in their opening match and then overcame compatriots Carol Salgado and Bárbara Seixas in the tie-breaker (25-27, 21-14, 18-16).

In Pool B, German qualifiers Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippman got a pair of wins for a second-straight day in Hamburg to secure a spot in the elimination rounds. The two, who started the event on the qualifier on Wednesday, topped Chinese Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia in the tie-breaker (13-21, 21-19, 15-12) and dominated Brazilians Ágatha Bednarczuk and Rebecca Cavalcanti in straight sets (21-10, 21-15) to remain undefeated after two days of competition.

Pool D had Americans Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes on top after the first day of competition. The two had to win a pair of tie-breakers to secure their spot in the elimination rounds, downing Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi 11-21, 21-16, 15-11 and topping Germans Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Müller 18-21, 21-15, 15-10 in the final match of the day.

The women will complete pool play at the Hamburg Elite16 on Friday, with each duo playing one more match. The top-ranked team from each pool will advance directly to the quarterfinals, while the second and third-placed tandems will play in the Round of 12 – both rounds will be played on Saturday. The semifinal and medal matches are scheduled for Sunday in Hamburg.

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