At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, nothing has been able to stop Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, the American women’s beach volleyball tandem.
Not the thunderstorms and rain that engulfed Eiffel Tower Stadium on Thursday night. Not the seventy-five-minute break that occurred during the match’s most crucial phase, following their heroic comeback from a set down. And most certainly not any of the three teams they faced in the opening pool of the Games.
With LeBron James watching from the stands, Nuss and Kloth overcame China’s Xinyi Xia and Chen Xue in an exciting three-set match that ended in a 15-21, 21-16, 15-12 victory. It was a gritted, come-from-behind victory for the young Americans. Yes, “King James” waited out the weather.
During the intermission, Kloth made a joke about watching a movie with Nuss. In reality, though, all they did was wrap themselves in as many towels as they could to fend off the storm’s accompanying cold front. After it was over, they had twenty minutes to warm up, fifteen of which they used for vigorous exercise.
Nuss advised, “You have to fire it up.”
When they are “dead tired,” as Kloth put it, their coach likes to have them earn five straight points to end practice. When they took back the court, Kloth remembered that training.
In the third quarter, officials temporarily ended the match at 3-2. After a Chinese mistake put the Americans ahead 10-9, the teams traded points to 9-9. For the game’s last point, Nuss put it away to complete the comeback.
Kloth recorded two blocks and had 21 attack points. Nuss had 14 attack points and 11 digs.
“I think we would definitely be excited if someone told us that we would go win our pool in the Olympic Games,” Nuss stated.
But the overall objective has remained the same. They haven’t even played to their full potential, in Nuss’ opinion. The competition is now win-or-go-home.
Nuss remarked, “Obviously, we came here for some hardware.” “We’re not happy.”
The Americans were trailing 13-8 at the first timeout in the first set because they were unable to get a foothold. China increased their lead with a further 3-1 run. China won 21–15 after an ace to make it 18–13 essentially sealed the set.
Kloth blamed her passing problems for the first-set defeat.
She said, “That was a big factor.” “I really just needed to get over it.”
In the second, Nuss took to running like a human Tasmanian devil, largely preventing the ball from touching the ground. As the United States jumped out to a 17-12 lead and won the set 21-16, she began to feel at ease with the festivities, though not before China narrowed the deficit to two. To prevent any chance of a Chinese comeback in the frame, Nuss drilled an ace.
Nuss remarked, “I think we made just a couple adjustments here and there.” It was just having faith in us. I anticipated that our serve-receive would sell out on its own.
Screams of “U” on the first hit, “S” on the second bump, and “A” on the knock over the net were the crowd’s response.
And then it began to rain. The Eiffel Tower was in the background when lightning struck. The game went on. The elements only made Nuss and Kloth more powerful.
That was before the game was called off because of the storm that resembled a hurricane in Louisiana, which affected the former LSU Tigers. Kloth and Nuss have been teammates since 2021 after meeting through the school’s beach volleyball program.
Adversity is something we always accept and have to run with since there is nothing we can do about it, Kloth said. “The weather cannot be altered. It is impossible to make go of. All you can do is handle it.
Their matches have all started at 10 p.m. local time, per NBC’s request, and they don’t mind. The light display of the Eiffel Tower as part of your pre-match introduction?
“It’s enjoyable for me to play at night when the lights go on,” Nuss remarked. It’s simply incredible to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle and light up.
Turn on the light? Glitter? Incredible? Nuss was discussing the sequence. She could just as well have been explaining how Kloth and her got started on these Games.
