Kristen Nuss, Taryn Kloth march into Beach Pro Tour Finals semis
The look from Kristen Nuss said it all: A closing of the eyes, a sigh, her head collapsing into the awaiting arms of her partner, Taryn Kloth.
Relief.
“That’s how I’d read that look as well,” Rich Lambourne said on the commentary for Volleyball World TV.
The look belies the score of their quarterfinal match of Friday’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Finals in Doha against Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson. Those who take a cursory skim of the scores will see a dominant showing, a 21-17, 21-14 win that suggests little trouble on the half of Nuss and Kloth.
But as lopsided as the scores may have been, the play was, oddly, uncharacteristic on the offensive end. Ten errors piled up from Nuss and Kloth, a number that is actually comparatively small relative to the 17 of Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson. And yet, strangely enough, it speaks to the remarkably high level of Nuss and Kloth that they can sweep the fifth-ranked team in the world by an 11-point differential on an off day.
Nuss’ 13 digs put her tied with Germany’s Cinja Tillman — who won her quarterfinal with Svenja Muller over Brazil’s Taina Silva and Victoria Lopes ((18-21, 21-14, 15-9) — atop the leaderboard for the tournament, five ahead of Humana-Paredes and 24 above No. 4 Mariafe Artacho of Australia. Kloth’s six blocks doubled her total for the tournament, and doubled the impressive efforts at the net of Wilkerson.
“Certainly not our best,” Kloth said. “We tried to let go of the mistakes and not overthink them as we hit the 20th ball out.”
Not quite 20, though at times it may have felt like it. Regardless of the total, Nuss and Kloth will require a cleaner effort in Saturday’s semifinals against Australia’s Artacho and Taliqua Clancy, a rematch of the bronze medal match from October’s World Championships. Nuss and Kloth won that match, claiming their sixth medal of the season, yet dropped a pool play match against Artacho and Clancy, 22-20, 21-17, earlier in this tournament.
They will await either world No. 1 Ana Patricia Silva and Duda Lisboa of Brazil, or Tillman and Muller in the medal match.
Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth celebrate with a relieved hug after a quarterfinal win/Volleyball World photo
Nuss and Kloth are the final American team remaining, after both Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes and Andy Benesh and Miles Partain finished 0-4 in pool play, settling for ninth, though even a winless tournament earned them a $7,500 paycheck.
The men’s semifinals feature Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig against the home team, Cherif Samba and Ahmed Tijan. Awaiting in the bottom half of the bracket is Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, who play George Wanderley and Andre Loyola.
For Nuss and Kloth, Saturday presents an opportunity to win a seventh medal, something no American team has done since April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings did so in 2016.
“Before the match, Kristen said ‘We started this year with a fifth place, I don’t want to end the year the way we started.’ That’s it,” Kloth said. “Kristen’s wish is my command.”
Click here the complete results. All matches from the Beach Pro Tour Finals are televised at Volleyball TV.
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