American second seeds Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena came through a hard-fought match against Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Gabriel Kissling ©FIVB

American second seeds Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena came through a hard-fought match against Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich and Gabriel Kissling to get their main draw campaign off to a winning start at the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Cincinnati Open in Ohio.

The duo had to rally from a 7-3 deficit in the third game of the Pool B encounter before eventually prevailing 21-16, 20-22, 16-14 against their 31st-ranked opponents at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. 

"Yeah, I guess you could call it rust," Dalhausser said.

"It wasn’t how we planned it.

"We kind of took off the gas in the second.

"We got a little bit of a lead and they came back and it almost screwed us."

Dalhausser and Lucena, who are battling Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson, as well as John Hyden and Tri Bourne for the two United States slots in Olympic qualifying, are due to play their remaining two pool matches tomorrow.

Top seeds Gibb and Patterson also had a tough time putting away Puerto Rico’s Roberto Rodriguez-Bertran 21-11, 15-21, 15-13 in Pool A. 

American brothers Trevor and Taylor Crabb came back in the third game for a 21-15, 13-21, 15-13 win over Australia’s Bo Soderberg and Cole Durant in Pool C, while fourth-seeded Hyden and Bourne downed Norwegian qualifiers Hendrik Mol and Lars Tvinde 23-21, 21-14 in Pool D.

Women's top seeds Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross won their two pool matches in front of a home crowd ©FIVB
Women's top seeds Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross won their two pool matches in front of a home crowd ©FIVB

In the women’s event, home favourites Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross saw off their first two Pool A opponents.

Playing in their 25th FIVB World Tour event as a pairing, the top seeds opened play by defeating Venezuela’s 16th-seeded Olaya Pazo and Norisbeth Agudo 21-12, 21-19.

They followed this up by overcoming Germany’s 32nd-seeded Anika Krebs and Anna Behlen 21-13, 21-15. 

Three-time Olympic gold medallist Walsh Jennings and London 2012 silver medallist Ross have won eight titles as a team on the FIVB World Tour.

They will continue their quest for another tomorrow, when they are due to finish pool play against Germany’s 17th-seeded Isabel Schneider and Teresa Mersmann.

"Any time we get to play in the US it feels like home - it's comfortable," said Ross.

"We always have fun playing but sometimes going to distant locations has its challenges.

"To have everyone here rooting for us makes it more fun."

The sides participating in the competition are battling it out for Rio 2016 ranking points as well as the $11,000 (£7,500/€9,800) on offer to the winners.