Doha Elite 16 to feature more bouts of USA vs. USA in main draw

The USA’s Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss advanced through the qualifier Wednesday at the 2023 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Doha Elite 16 in Qatar by beating two pairs of fellow Americans.

Now they’ll face a team from Canada on Thursday. And they’re not alone. Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, just a few days after winning the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Finals, are in the same situation.

Kloth and Nuss, who finished tied for fifth in the Finals, also in Doha, opened Wednesday with a 21-14, 15-21, 15-11 victory over the USA’s Toni Rodriguez (who played with Kloth and Nuss at LSU) and Savvy Simo. Then TKN beat Megan Kraft and Emily Stockman 22-20, 21-19.

Now they’ll play the new Canadian pair of Sarah Pavan and Sophie Bukovec, who went winless in four matches last week in the Finals, including losing to TKN in three. Kloth and Nuss will also face yet another USA pair, Sarah Sponcil and Terese Cannon, and Germans Cinja Tillma and Svenja Muller.

Cheng and Hughes open against the Swiss pair of Nina Brunner and Tanja Huberli, play Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, and also Brazlians Andressa Cavalcanti and Vitoria De Souza. The Brazilians also got through the qualifier.

The only USA men’s pairs in the tournament, Tim Brewster and Kyle Friend and Evan Cory and Logan Webber, both lost in the first round of the qualifier.