The duo joined forces for the Fort Lauderdale Major and got started by winning the Brazilian country-quota

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Taiana Lima and her temporary partner Carol Horta prevailed in the Brazilian country-quota (Photocredit: FIVB)

When Elize Maia injured her left knee in the World Tour four-star event in The Hague in January, her partner Taiana Lima thought she wouldn’t be able to play in the 2018 Fort Lauderdale Major.

However, a last-minute call from Carolina Horta changed her plans and, with only one training session together, they survived in the Brazilian country-quota in Florida and are set to compete on Tuesday’s qualification tournament.

Despite of the lack of time together, Taiana and Carol Horta prevailed over Lili Maestrini and Josi Alves in straight sets (21-18, 21-15) the deciding match of the country-quota and will return to the court on Tuesday to compete for one of the last main draw spots, and will meet Marija Milosevic and Milena Matic of Serbia.

“We had no time together and I think we played really well,” Taiana said. “I think we could have had an even more comfortable result if we had more training sessions together, but I believe we managed to use our individual skills to make up for the lack of chemistry. Lili and Jose have been together for a while and it’s hard to play against them.”

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FTLMajor Taiana e Carol Horta vencem Josi/Lili pelo Country Quota e disputarão o classificatório no Major Series de Fort Lauderdale

With the country-quota already behind of them, Taiana and Carol Horta now focus on their next step: the qualification tournament. The tandem is aware of the struggles they will face, but also confident they have the recipe to overcome any setbacks.

“We need to be really smart about how we set and handle our expectations here,” the veteran Taiana added. “We’re not a regular team, so we need to focus on pushing one another instead of getting into each other for mistakes because they will happen. The first step was to win the country-quota, we did it, and now all we want is to get to the main draw.”

You can watch the qualification tournament of the first Beach Major Series event of 2018 live on BeachStream. Register here and get ready for a week of top-class beach volleyball in Fort Lauderdale.