Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss rally, overcome weather delay and more to beat China and advance

Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth of LSU continue winning streak, beat China and advance to Olympic medal round

The first two Olympic matches for ex-LSU beach volleyball stars Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth were easy victories. However, their final pool play match was met with a massive storm and the threat of lightning over Paris’ Eiffel Tower.

Battling Against Adversity

• Only a few spectators were allowed to stay, including NBA legend LeBron James who watched from a VIP section.
• Despite distractions and challenges, Nuss and Kloth fought back against Chinese duo Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi to secure a spot in the medal round with a 3-0 record in Pool B.
• Kloth and Nuss rebounded from their first set loss of the Olympics by a 21-15 score to win the second set 21-16 then take the third 15-12.

Dominating the Pool Play

• The Americans, the No. 2 seed entering the Olympics, won their Pool B with a 3-0 record.
• Australia (2-1) also advanced to the medal round earlier Thursday with a straight sets win over Canada (0-3).
• China is 1-2 but had a chance to reach the round of 16.

Celebration Under the Eiffel Tower

• Kloth and Nuss celebrated their victory under the lit-up Eiffel Tower at midnight.

Kloth and Nuss hope to continue their winning streak as they advance to the medal round. Match times and opponents have yet to be determined.

Unstoppable Duo

• The former Tigers have been on a hot streak, making it to the finals of three consecutive pro volleyball tournaments before coming to the Olympics.
• Their determination and teamwork has led them to success even amidst the weather delay on Thursday and technical difficulties caused by CrowdStrike software issues earlier in the week.