Kloth/Nuss Move to 2-0 and Melissa/Brandie Kick Off with a Win

PARIS, France, July 29, 2024.-Facing the silver medalists from the Tokyo Games, the U.S. beach team of Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss stayed unbeaten and Melissa Humana-Paredes alongside Brandie Wilkerson of Canada kick off with a win in the Paris Olympics.

Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss stayed unbeaten with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) victory over Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Taliqua Clancy of Australia 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 pool play against Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi of China on Thursday.

Nuss registered 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 truly think it is trusting your training,” said Kloth. “Trusting each other and trusting your coach that he trained us and we really did work very hard and did very meticulous training to get here.”

“For us it’s obviously very pressure-filled moments,” said Nuss. “I think sometimes it’s one person needs to rely on the other person and vice versa and I think that’s really important in a team dynamic, so we are just going to keep trying to do that.”

Fourth-seeded Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson of Canada did not allow any surprises in Monday’s Pool D match against rising Paraguayan stars Giuliana Poletti & Michelle Valiente, seeded 21, and hammered out a 2-0 (21-16, 21-12) shutout.

Brandie scored 16 points (12 kills, 2 blocks, 2 aces), while Melissa scored 15 points (13 kills, 2 aces) and ended with 13 successful digs. Canada benefited from 11 opponent errors and gave away 7.

Melissa and Brandie will be back under the Eiffel Tower on July 31 against Swiss Esmée/Zoe.

Olympic Games Paris 2024 Beach Volleyball: schedule and results