'We Want To Get First': April Ross & Alix Klineman On New York City Open Beach Volleyball Tournament

(CBS Local)-- April Ross and Alix Klineman have only been playing together since 2018, but they quickly have become one of the best beach volleyball teams in the world.

Ross and Klineman won the first time they ever played together and have five AVP wins to their names. They will look to make it six this weekend at the New York City Open in Hudson River Park. While the duo has played all around the world, there is nothing like the atmosphere or humidity of the Big Apple.

"It's been mild everywhere we've gone so far," said Ross in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "Our last tournament was kind of rainy and it's a lot harder to play in the heat. This will be our intro into true summer I think. We did a little sauna training when we were in the Czech Republic last week."

While Ross and Klineman have had early success together, they've also had to battle through several challenges during their volleyball journey around the world.

"We won our first tournament, which was amazing, but then we had a little bit of growing pains," said Klineman. "In general, our goals and our focuses are the same. Even during our low points, it's not like we see it too much differently."

Klineman recently made the transition to beach volleyball and says it's a lot harder than it looks. Meanwhile, Ross has been on the sand for a long time, but wants people to understand just how difficult this sport is for everybody.

"The best players make it look easy," said Klineman. "Moving in the sand... people take it for granted and think it's just a normal surface. It's just really not. I'm getting most of the serves and that adds to the workload."

"You get no break, when you are out there it is just the two of you," said Ross. "You're always touching the ball. You can't be subbed out, you can't take a match off, and the pressure is kind of always on."

Both Ross and Klineman hate losing and hope to put up a big performance this weekend in New York. They are also hoping it goes better than last year's tournament.

"That was a rough one. We were dealing with an injury and we lost and it just sucks," said Ross. "Internationally and domestically there's so many good teams."

"We lost in the semi-finals," said Klineman. "There was a little injury stuff going on. It's not that third is that bad, but for us we want to get first."

The New York City Open starts on June 7 and goes through June 9.