Who is Taryn Kloth’s Olympic beach volleyball partner Kristen Nuss and how many tour titles have they won?
BEACH Volleyball stars Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss are a dynamic duo known for their long reign of unbeatable play in world competitions.
The pair sadly experienced a massive loss at the Paris 2024 Olympics – but who is Kloth’s other beach volleyball half?
Kristen Nuss competing in the Women’s Preliminary Phase at the 2024 OlympicsGetty Images
APTaryn Kloth, right, and Kristen Nuss, left, celebrate victory in the women’s pool B beach volleyball match between USA and Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics[/caption]
AFPKristen Nuss celebrates a point in the women’s pool B beach volleyball match between USA and Australia[/caption]
Who is Kristen Nuss?
Kristen Nuss is an American beach volleyball player who competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics with Taryn Kloth.
She has competed in various world-class volleyball competitions, including FIVB World Tour/Pro Beach tour.
She and Kloth are ranked No.2 in the world and are the first beach volleyball pair to ever go for Olympic gold without any connection to California.
Early Life
Born in December 1997, Nuss grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and is the youngest of four children.
Her parents are Audrey and George, and she has three older brothers, Pete, Jeffrey and Jordan.
Nuss has always been a massively talented athlete – even in her early life.
In high school, Nuss led Mount Carmel Academy to three indoor volleyball and two basketball state titles.
Nuss was also a LHSAA Division I MVP and Gatorade Player of the Year candidate for indoor volleyball.
Despite her successes in various sports, she knew she wanted to do beach volleyball.
In 2017 Nuss attended the notorious sports college Louisiana State University, where she quickly found her feet in the beach volleyball world with another freshman, Claire Coppola.
The dynamic duo accumulated nine wins over NCAA ranked teams – unbelievably including a whopping seven against the top 10 ranked teams.
In their freshman season, they even won 20 of 21 matches, ending with a 27-7 record.
For this, they got named to Volleyballmag.com’s All-America team.
After winning various championships and awards back-to-back over the years, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Nuss began to train with Taryn Kloth.
Kloth was an indoor volleyball player for Creighton who has transferred over to LSU.
Together, the Olympians went on to finish with an unbelievable 36-0 record in 2021 – the second ever team to complete an undefeated season and the NCAA title.
Not only did Nuss finish college with record-breaking stats, she also graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology.
GettyKristen Nuss in the first set against the New York Nitro during AVP League Week 7[/caption]
GettyTaryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss of Team United States react during a Women’s Round of 16 match against Team Canada[/caption]
The star also ended her college career with 136 total victories, three CCSA Pair of the Year and AVCA All-American awards, two USA Volleyball Collegiate Beach Championships and Volleyballmag.com’s Player of the Year.
Paris 2024 Olympics
Upon Nuss and Kloth’s graduating in 2021, they immediately turned into professional beach volleyball players with the aspiration of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The pair opted to stay in New Orleans instead of doing what most players do and move to Southern California.
After various impressive Pro Tour wins, the pair qualified for the Olympics.
While initially having an unbeaten run, the pairs streak ended with a 21-19, 21-18 loss to Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson.
Pro Tour wins
Nuss has a total of 12 medals – seven of which are gold, three silver and two bronze.
After graduating from LSU, she and Kloth struggled to qualify for international tournaments before getting Gold in the 2022 BPT Coolangatta Futures.
Nuss and Kloth then gained momentum and beat the Tokyo Silver Medalists, Australians Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy and were on track to Gold at the 2022 BPT Kusadasi Challenge.
By 2023 the pair won two of their first four World Tournaments, impressively following those by achieving three medals in five tournaments during the European leg of the tour.
Soon Nuss and Cloth were sailing to win Gold at the World Tour Finals and were unbeatable – reaching the No.2 FIVB ranking and qualifying for the Olympics.
Kristen Nuss medal record
World Championships
2023 Tlaxcala – Bronze
World Tour Finals
2023 Doha – Gold
World Tour
2022 Coolangatta – Gold
2022 Kusadasi – Gold
2023 La Paz – Gold
2023 Uberlandia – Gold
2024 Espinho – Gold
2024 Gstaad – Gold
2023 Hamburg – Silver
2023 Paris – Silver
2024 Brasilia – Silver
2023 Gstaad – Bronze
AVP Tour
2021 Atlanta – Gold
2022 Austin – Gold
2022 Chicago – Gold
2022 Phoenix – Gold
2023 Atlanta – Gold
2023 Chicago – Gold
2023 Huntington Beach – Gold
2022 New Orleans – Silver
2021 Chicago – Bronze
2023 New Orleans – Bronze
2023 Huntington Beach – Bronze
Kloth and Nuss were pictured in an Instagram picture with LSU gymnast star Olivia Dunne after the volleyball stars beat Canada on Saturday night
