When Stanford grad Alix Klineman blocked Carolina Salgado’s attack to secure the final point for her and April Ross’ victory over Brazil in the women’s gold medal match at the Dela Beach Open on Sunday, a new name was etched into the beach volleyball record book on the FIVB World Tour.
Klineman became the third women in FIVB World Tour history to win a gold medal in her first-ever international beach volleyball event as she and Ross posted a 21-12, 21-15 win in 33 minutes over Carolina and Maria Antonelli at the indoor arena at Sportcampus Zuiderpark.
The first two women to win gold in their first-ever event were Americans Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno, who played together and won the first-ever women’s FIVB World Tour event in August 1992 in Almeria, Spain.
The Klineman-Ross gold medal finish marked the third time that a women’s team won a FIVB World Tour event after starting the competition in the country quota round. Ross and Jen Kessy were the first in 2007 at Stavanger, Norway with Carolina and Antonelli accomplishing the feat in 2017 at The Hague at the indoor/outdoor event at the newly-constructed Sportcampus Zuiderpark.
During her first full-season of beach volleyball competition last year, Klineman and Lane Carico placed second, third, seventh and ninth in four events with a 12-7 record. Overall, Klineman played in eight events in 2017 with a 21-13 record.
Her previous beach volleyball experience was in AVP events in 2005 and 2006 as a teenager, and 2016 in a domestic qualifier in her native Manhattan Beach.
Indoor internationally, Klineman played on United States teams that won medals at the 2011 (bronze) Pan American Games and 2015 (gold) Pan American Cup.
She started six of seven Pan American Cup matches in 2015 and scored 55 points in 17 sets for a 3.24 scoring average.
In 2011 at the Pan American Games, Klineman scored 15 points in two sets in victory over Mexico and averaged 4.83 points in six sets.
In 2014, Klineman started one match against Brazil in the USA Volleyball Cup, compiling 19 points and seven digs. She also played in 14 sets as a reserve in the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix where the American finished fifth in the preliminary rounds.
A member of the 2005 U.S. Girls’ Youth National Team that finished fourth at the FIVB Youth World Championship, she was named the Best Scorer at the event.