There was a time, not all that long ago, when it was something of a pleasant surprise if Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth were to upset Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho. In May of 2022, Nuss and Kloth were playing in just their second career Challenge event, this one in Kusadasi, Turkey. As they had done in their prior Challenge, in Itapema, Brazil, they qualified, only this time they kept on winning.
They swept their way to the finals in Kusadasi where, it could have been assumed — and was — that the Cinderella run would come to an end in the gold medal match against the 2021 Olympic silver medalists. Only the strangest thing happened: It didn’t. Nuss and Kloth won, 21-12, 17-21, 17-15 in what was then viewed as a stunner, the plucky young rookies stumping one of the most decorated teams in the world.
Stunning upsets are no longer in the lexicon when it comes to Nuss and Kloth. Not when they win, anyway. Now, matchups against Artacho and Clancy are seen the other way around, with Nuss and Kloth, the current world No. 3, the favorites in the matchup against the world No. 6. It showed as much on Thursday at the Paris Elite16, when Nuss and Kloth swept the Aussies, 21-13, 21-19 for their second win of the day and fourth straight over Australia.
“I think we are just having fun out there,” Nuss said. “Things that we have been working on in practice are carrying over very well right now.”
It’s easy to have fun on days like Thursday. They began with a 21-13, 21-16 win over Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi, who have risen to No. 13 in the world. The evening was punctuated by their convincing win over Artacho and Clancy.
“I love playing with Kristen Nuss,” said Kloth, who, it should be noted, is also easy to be loved by her partner, with eight blocks against Italy and two more against Australia.
The wins assures Kloth and Nuss a spot in the weekend’s playoffs. Another over Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft on Friday would gift them a bye straight into the quarterfinals. As for Cannon and Kraft, their 0-2 record belies how well they played on Thursday, losing both matches to Italy and Australia in three sets (21-16, 16-21, 15-12; 18-21 25-23, 15-11, respectively). Should they beat Nuss and Kloth, they will be in a tie for the third spot in pool, which will come down to point differential.
Like Cannon and Kraft, Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles played the maximum number of sets on Thursday, going to…
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