Kloth & Nuss Finish Olympics in Round of 16

PARIS, France -- Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss saw their unbeaten run at the Paris Olympics end on Monday with a 21-19, 21-18 loss to Canada's Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson in a match-up of two of the top eight beach volleyball teams in the world. The loss, which came in the Round of 16, ends Team TKN's quest with an Olympic medal as the squad will finish tied for ninth place.

The Canadian squad made a huge rally to win the initial set, which featured 10 ties and four lead changes. The US side used a 6-0 run to move ahead 12-8 and led by as much as 14-9 before surrendering a 6-0 run of its own to fall behind 15-14. The US knotted the set at 19-all before Canada took the last two points and the set, on a Humana-Paredes ace and a US attack error, 21-19. Nuss had nine kills and eight digs on .600 hitting while Kloth owned three kills in 13 attacks. Humana-Paredes had five kills for Canada and Wilkerson added seven in the opening game.

The Americans never led in the second set, falling behind 8-3 in the opening moments. A 5-0 run got the United States within one at 10-9, but Canada pulled ahead 17-13. A spirited surge help the US tie the match at 18-all before Canada closed out the contest with the final three points.

Kloth finished the match with 11 kills in 28 swings while adding six digs and four blocks. Nuss turned in another double-double with 13 kills in 23 swings, adding a match-high 11 digs. Humana-Paredes finished with 15 kills and nine digs, while Wilkerson owned 11 kills, five blocks and five digs.

Ranked second in the world, Kloth and Nuss were making their Olympic debuts. This was the second Olympic appearance for both Canadians. Humana-Paredes teamed with former Nebraska Cornhusker All-American Sarah Pavan to tie for fifth place in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, while Wilkerson paired with Heather Bansley to also share fifth place in Tokyo. Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes are ranked eighth in the latest FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings and had beaten Team TKN two of three previous meetings.

Kloth and Nuss entered the Round of 16 with a 3-0 record, dropping just one set en route to winning Pool B. Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson were 2-2 in Paris prior to Monday, going 1-2 in Pool D before defeating a team from Czechoslovakia in the so-called "Lucky Loser" round of third-place pool finishers on Saturday.

With the win, the Canadian squad will face Daniela Alvarez Mendoza and Tania Moreno Matveeva, the 16th-ranked Spanish duo who upset the Netherlands pairing of Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon (18-21, 21-19, 15-13) that were ranked fifth worldwide. That match will take place on Wednesday, with network coverage and a start time determined later today.

Kloth was the seventh former Creighton student-athlete to appear in an Olympics, and first female. Along with Duncan McGuire of the U.S. Olympic Men's Soccer team, Kloth gave Creighton two competitors at the same Olympics for the first time since 1936, when Willard Schmidt (Basketball) and Carl Vincequerra (Boxing) did so. Other previous Bluejay Olympians include Scott Servais (1988 Baseball), Chad McConnell (1992 Baseball) and Gregory Echenique (2016 Basketball for Venezuela). Schmidt and Servais remain the only two Bluejays to earn a medal, with each man taking home a gold medal.

Kloth played indoor volleyball at Creighton from 2015-18, where she was a two-time AVCA Honorable Mention All-American and MVP of the 2017 BIG EAST Tournament. She remains fourth in program history with 1,427 career kills. The Sioux Falls, S.D. native was just as accomplished in the classroom, where the Finance major was named BIG EAST Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and won the BIG EAST Institutional Female Scholar-Athlete Award, BIG EAST Sport Excellence Award and BIG EAST Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award in addition to being a College Sports Communicators Third Team Academic All-American. After earning her undergraduate degree at Creighton in the fall of 2018, Kloth transferred to LSU where she began playing beach volleyball for the first time. After going 14-0 in the COVID-abbreviated spring of 2020, she paired with Nuss for the 2021 season as the duo went 36-0 and was named National Pair of the Year by the AVCA and Volleyball Magazine.

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