PARIS, France (July 29, 2024) – Facing Tokyo Olympic silver medalists, the U.S. beach volleyball team of Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss remained undefeated at the Paris Olympics with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) victory over Australia’s Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Taliqua Clancy on Monday. Kloth/Nuss are now 2-0, while the Australian team fell to 1-1.
The world’s No. 2-ranked team, Kloth and Nuss, will conclude the group stage against Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi of China on Thursday at 1 p.m. PT (10 p.m. local).
Nuss recorded a double-double with 14 points (12 kills, 2 aces) and 16 digs. Kloth joined Nuss with 12 kills and added four digs. The U.S. benefited from 13 Australian errors.
“I really think it’s a matter of trust in his training,” Kloth said. “We trust each other and we trust our coach who has trained us and we’ve really worked really hard and done really meticulous training to get here.”
The first set was tied at 11, when the U.S. went on a 5-1 run to take a four-point lead, 16-12. Nuss played excellent defense during the set with two particularly impressive digs to make it 14-11, then scored on back-to-back games, one on a shot that hit the line and the other on a drop shot to end the set.
The Australian team came back to within two, 16-14, but two kills from Kloth on penalty kicks along the line and a hitting error gave the U.S. a 19-15 lead. Kloth had a kill for the 20th point and excellent defense and a punch kill from Nuss ended the first set. Each U.S. player recorded six kills in the set.
The United States took a 12-8 lead in the second set when Nuss scored to end the longest rally of the match. Mariafe/Clancy scored three straight points to get back to within one, but the United States took advantage of a service error and two kills from Kloth, one on an off-speed shot and the other on her patented shot into the back corner, to regain a four-point lead.
Nuss served an ace that sailed over the net to make it 18-13, but the Australian duo cut the deficit to two points with back-to-back aces. Nuss scored to make it 19-16, then her flying dig allowed the Australian to continue her rally that ended with an Australian error. Nuss finished the match with a kill out of the blocks. Just like in the first set, Nuss and Kloth each recorded six kills, with Nuss adding two aces.
“For us, these are obviously very stressful times,” Nuss said. “I think sometimes one person needs to lean on the other and vice versa and I think that’s very important in a team dynamic, so we’re going to continue to try to do that.”
