The Paris Elite16 has only been an event for two years. Already, it has established a peculiar penchant for celebrating birthdays in style.
Last year, Katja Stam, the Netherlands’ 6-foot-4 blocker, celebrated her 24th birthday by winning a gold medal with Raisa Schoon. One year later, Megan Kraft celebrated her 21st with a pair of wins in the qualifier — sweeps over Austria and then France — and a main-draw berth with Terese Cannon.
The best part?
More volleyball, extending the birthday weekend at least two more days and three more matches.
“I am just grateful to have such a supportive and joyful partner in Terese and we’re both so excited to get to play more volleyball,” Kraft said.
For both Cannon and Kraft, it is their first event without their previous partners. Kraft had competed this season alongside Emily Stockman, who retired after the AVP Chicago Gold Series, while Cannon had played the previous two years with Sarah Sponcil, who recently signed with the Grand Rapids Rise of the upstart Pro Volleyball Federation.
“Honestly we’re just really excited to play more volleyball,” Cannon said. “At least three more games to keep finding our groove and it kinda just feels like we’re playing with house money at this point so we’re having fun with it.”
And how can they not? There is precisely zero pressure on the new team, especially given the fact that Kraft hasn’t defended since split-blocking with Latvian Tina Graudina at USC in 2021. They will now contend in Pool B, against fellow Americans Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, Australians Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy, and Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi.
Ahead of them, in Pool A, is Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles, who are joined by Brazil’s Ana Patricia Silva and Duda Lisboa, Tanja Huberli and Nina Brunner, and Finnish qualifiers Niina Ahtiainen and Taru Lahti. Pool D, meanwhile, features Germany’s Svenja Muller and Cinja Tillman, Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, France’s Lezana Placette and Alexia Richard, and German qualifiers Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippmann, who look stronger every tournament and made remarkably quick work of the qualifier.
As much fun as Cannon and Kraft had on Wednesday, they were, unfortunately for USA Volleyball as a whole, the only team to enjoy such fun in Paris.
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