Look out, Paris, here comes TKN! – Beach volleyball’s Taryn Kloth, Kristen Nuss determined to bring home the ‘gold’

Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss punched their ticket to Paris as the first U.S.A. women’s beach volleyball team to land a spot in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. As the days click down to the Games, Kloth and Nuss are chomping at the bit as they prepare for what could be considered the biggest stage of their beach volleyball careers.

“We definitely dumped everything and anything we had, all energy, all resources into making this goal happen,” says Kloth. “Right out of college, we just went full-blast into traveling as much as we can, and gaining as many points as possible, and just competing as much as we could.”

As their story tells, their “full-blast” mentality has added “Team USA Olympic athlete” to their resumes.

“We’ve talked about it kind of being the perfect storm for us,” shares Kloth, a 2015 Sioux Falls O’Gorman alumna. “We were luckily able to train together at LSU (Louisiana State University), and so we got a ton of consistent training there. Our coach came with us as soon as we graduated, so we had a team in place with us three. We’re all super-committed and had goals set in our minds, so I think it was just trusting in our entire team and knowing that everybody is going to work as hard as possible to make our goals happen. Day in and day out, it’s being super-meticulous and on the grind.”

The 26-year-olds began competing together in the sport in 2021 and are currently ranked second in the world – let’s stress that – second in the world – behind Brazilians Ana Patricia and Duda. What’s even more impressive is the U.S. duo has the least combined tour-level experience of any U.S. Olympic beach team in the last 24 years.

“It’s kind of still really unbelievable to me, but yes, we are,” a humble Kloth acknowledges the No. 2 world ranking.

If that’s not enough to impress, Kloth brings a 6-foot-4 presence to the sandy beach courts, while Nuss stands just 5-foot-6. That stat alone has Nuss positioned to become the shortest U.S. Olympic beach volleyball player since Barbra Fontana in 1996. Their height difference is the largest ever for a U.S. Olympic beach team.

“I could imagine that would be very true. She is very small,” Kloth assures.

Despite Nuss’ petite stature, Kloth describes her partner as “Pretty amazing.”

“When you’re a defender – a typical beach volleyball person – if you’re like 5-9, that’s really good. 5-10 would be awesome, but 5-6 is pretty much of unheard of. So, in order for Kristen to be that successful, she took her 5-6 height and said, ‘I don’t care and I’m going to be great anyway.’ She has worked her butt off. Her vertical is absolutely unbelievable. Her vision, her knowledge of the game, everything that somebody could be using against her, she takes it as fuel and she gets better because of it, and that’s what makes her so great,” Kloth complimented.

TKN – their combined team name (Taryn Kloth/Kristen Nuss) – are also the first U.S. Olympic women’s beach volleyball team that doesn’t primarily train in California. To prepare for Paris, Kloth said they competed as much as possible. But since earning their berth to Paris, they’ve backed off on some of the tournaments.

“We wanted to be more selective,” she said. “In 2023, we were traveling everywhere. We had no downtime and our bodies really took a toll on us, so we were fortunate to qualify a little bit earlier so we could be more selective.”

They’re also training at home, focusing on the “small things.”

On the mental side of the game, TKN is preparing for “the most pressure-filled situation” by meeting with a sports psychologist.

“It’s going to be high stakes. The entire world will be watching you, and there’s no way to actually prepare for that, but just realize that is the reality of what we are going to be walking into,” she said.

All the while balancing tournaments with training and moments for themselves, they’ve been inundated with publicity protocols and media interviews.

“It is an absolutely amazing time constraint issue that we have had,” she said.

Their daily grind typically includes an early rising, followed by an hour and a half to two-hour gym session, followed by a slug of meetings, a quick bite to eat, and then a two- to three-hour practice. Then, it’s dinner and bedtime.

“We were just so exhausted,” she said, “so we finally had to be like, ‘This is not sustainable for us anymore. We are not giving everything that we have to volleyball, which is the most important piece.’ So, we definitely had to ring in the amount and we couldn’t say ‘yes’ all of the time.”

On the weeks leading up to their departure for Paris, Kloth said she’s surprised daily by the amount of behind-the-scenes things that are taking place, like fans from across the world reaching out to them.

“Yesterday, we actually had somebody from Bulgaria reach out to us and they were like, ‘I am such a big fan and I’m so excited to watch you.’ Those moments are very precious to me, because you don’t know the amount of connections you are making with somebody else. To us, it’s just volleyball. It’s a game that we love to play and it is our job. But also, we don’t realize the extent to which beach volleyball is reaching people, so I would say this is so unbelievable, especially during the Olympics time, it’s crazy to see all of these people that are coming out of the woodwork.”

Piles of paperwork is another surprise, as are the extensive list of rules.

“There are so many rules,” she emphasizes. “Like if you post the Olympic rings, if you say ‘Paris,’ there are so many ways that you can get in trouble. I would just say the rules and regulations, I had no idea that there are so many ways to get in trouble just by talking about it or posting. …The amount of interviews and podcasts and news stations and everybody is talking to you about the Olympics. It’s a fantastic feeling, but I have to take a step back and remind myself there is so much more to life than these two weeks. Everybody is hyper-focused on this, but I also need to make sure that the rest of my life is in balance and in check, and I’m not just putting all of my eggs in this Olympics basket.”

They have a fan base

Kloth is the daughter of Brandon’s Mike Kloth and stepmother Janna, and her mother, Tricia Schwartz-Smith, of Sioux Falls, and all plan to be courtside for the action. And there are even more family members and friends making the haul to Paris, including her sister, three siblings on her mother’s side, two aunts, an uncle, four friends from high school and another four friends from college.

“So yeah, we have quite the crew coming,” she said.

Nuss’s list matches Kloth’s. And when TKN put in their request for tickets – because tickets are very hard to come by – Olympics staff were “blown away” by their request. 

“They were like, ‘We’ve never had a request this large for tickets.’” Kloth notes.

Combined, Kloth said they requested 60 to 70 tickets per match.

Beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower

Beach volleyball at the Paris games will be played at Eiffel Tower Stadium. Later this month, the Champ-de-Mars, the park located at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in the center of Paris, will become a temporary outdoor arena.

“I think there’s been three times where somebody said something about it, or I saw a picture of the Eiffel Tower, or we had just received our Olympic pass that says, ‘I made it’, or something that’s engraved on the hat, ‘Congratulations on being part of Team USA,’ that I burst into tears,” Kloth said. “It really is so emotion-packed.”

While TKN – one of 24 teams to qualify – was the first duo to punch their ticket to Paris, Kelly Chang and Sarah Hughes is the other team that will represent Team USA. Despite both teams baring the USA’s red, white and blue, Kloth said they are the competition. 

“We are competitive against every single other team,” she said. “I don’t know if there is a time where we’re cheering for another team to win. That’s just kind of the name of the game. It’s two on two, and you’re always competing for the next spot or the seed or slot that you’re in for the tournament or for Olympic seeding or for USA seeding, so it is really tough.”

Cheng and Hughes currently rank third in the world, and in early April clinched the second – and final – U.S. Olympic women’s spot.

Kloth said she and Nuss have gone up against all but one of the 23 other qualifying teams. What remains a mystery yet is who they will face in the first round.

“Everybody is asking this question,” she said. “And I don’t have the answer to this question. We do not know who we are playing, and we are not withholding any information. We do know there is going to be a draw, and then we will find out at the beginning of July.”

What Kloth does know, however, is the design of the USA swimsuits they will be wearing.

“We actually just designed our USA swimsuits … and they are going to be released soon,” she said. “They are very, very patriotic, and it gives me goosebumps just thinking about wearing them.”

The Olympic beach volleyball tournament schedule is an extensive one. The first matches will be played the day following opening ceremonies on July 26 and the final men’s matches for the gold medal are on tap for Aug. 10. The closing ceremony is Aug. 11. Kloth said they will arrive in Paris a week before the opening ceremony.

Kloth said it’s still a mystery on what they’ll be allowed to do, such as taking in other Olympic events, during their three-week stay in Paris.

“Every single time somebody tells me something, I’m like, ‘I’m such a newbie. I’m just trying to be a sponge and soak it all in,” she said.

Where the journey began

The teammates – who first met playing four years of indoor volleyball at Creighton University – graduated and then spent three years on the beach at Louisiana State University. Kloth, a South Dakota native who played high school volleyball at O’Gorman, and Nuss, a New Orleans native who graduated from Mount Carmel Academy, joined forces during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. During the historic timeframe, they went 36-0 in their one season together at LSU before turning pro in 2021.

Their journey to Paris began in 2023 by going through the qualifying process to earn main draw spots at international tournaments. They finished the year with five titles between the domestic AVP and international FIVB tours, plus took bronze at October’s world championships after losing a tight semifinal to eventual champions and countrywomen Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes. 

According to an NBC Sports report, the U.S. has won at least one women’s or men’s beach volleyball medal at every Olympics since the sport’s debut in the 1996 Atlanta Games, including gold at six of those seven Games.

South Dakota doesn’t have ‘beach volleyball’

Kloth grew up playing indoor volleyball in South Dakota, where she was a standout at O’Gorman, and also as a Creighton University Blue Jay. While one may think that indoor and beach volleyball are one in the same, Kloth is quick to say, they are not.

“It’s definitely taken a lot of time and reps and patience and definitely a lot of learning moments,” she stresses. “If I’m being completely honest, it’s been really freaking hard. It has been so challenging to switch to a completely new sport, and it really is a very, very different sport. I know they both have the word ‘volleyball’ in it, but they are so different, that if you are a high-level beach volleyball player and they go try to play indoor, it’s going to be very challenging, and same thing, vice versa.”

Time, and a moderate amount of “patience” have made her the beach volleyball player she is today.

“I have not given myself as much grace as I probably should have, but also, I would say I am very driven. I am pretty hard on myself, so I think those things, as much as they are not positive all of the time, is something that really does drive me to be better as much as possible.”

Infatuated with the Olympics as a kid

As a youngster growing up, Kloth said she was glued to the TV as much as possible during Olympics broadcasts.

“I absolutely watched opening ceremonies. I watched the Olympics. Every single time I would turn on the TV and it was Olympic time for those two weeks, I did not care what sport it was. I was immediately a huge fan, whether it be swimming or track and field or beach volleyball or indoor volleyball,” she says enthusiastically. 

“I mean, wearing USA is such a blessing, and I am so grateful. It’s crazy to me to think that I watched that and I was just in such awe of every single one of those athletes, and now to be a part of Team USA with other incredible athletes that have dedicated so much time and they have sacrificed so much, I am just thrilled to be able to meet them, and represent the United States together.”

Sacrifices made

The thrill Kloth speaks of, however, came with plenty of personal sacrifices since going pro four years ago.

“I’m in Louisiana – and yes, Louisiana has truly adopted me – but I’m away from my family a lot of the time. I miss all of the birthday parties. I miss Thanksgiving, Easter, all of these events, huge weddings, some of my best friends’ bachelorette trips. There are so many things, and so I think that’s why all of the emotion of ‘I think it’s OK that I have missed so much of everybody else’s lives trying to chase this dream’ that I’m overwhelmed with emotion,” Kloth said. “But I would do it all over again.”

The future’s yet to be written

Just how long TKN will play professional beach volleyball remains to be seen.

“Our goal right now is to focus on the Olympics,” Kloth said. “A lot of people are like, ‘What are you guys going to do after the Olympics?’

“I am just trying to get there,” she answers. “I don’t think people realize how tunnel-vision focused we have been on Paris, and anything past Paris we’re not focused on that because Paris hasn’t happened. That is our main goal and we always say, ‘We’re gonna figure that out later.’”