No hurricane for Nuss and Kloth in Hamburg — just another semifinal

Kristen Nuss has been through at least seven hurricanes in her 25 years living in Louisiana, and untold number of floods and storms that didn’t quite make it to hurricane category but carried devastating power nonetheless. She dealt with the madness of Katrina and, a month after that, Rita. In 2008 alone, she experienced Gustav and Ike. Nine years later, she was at ground zero as Harvey reared its head and delivered $125 billion of damage.

Finally, after 25 years, Nuss, unofficially the most hurricane-experienced player on the AVP Tour, gets to skip one.

Nuss and Taryn Kloth are not in California during this weekend’s AVP Manhattan Beach Open. They’re in Germany for the Hamburg Elite16, thousands of miles and an ocean away as Hurricane Hilary makes her way up the coast of Mexico. So while the two might have some FOMO over skipping the Manhattan Beach Open, annually the biggest event on the AVP calendar, there is no such FOMO of finally skipping out on a hurricane.

“Heck no,” Nuss said.

“I’ve done one hurricane and I legit cried after we evacuated because I thought we were going to come back to nothing,” said Kloth, a South Dakota native who came back to plenty. “The Nuss family was unphased.”

For that matter: Is there anything that can phase a Kristen Nuss?

If Katrina and Rita and Harvey and Gustav couldn’t do it, surely a different type of storm, this one of the metaphorical sort, could, one that goes by the name of Laura Ludwig.

Nuss cites two role models when it comes to her beach volleyball career: Misty May-Treanor and Laura Ludwig. They’re World Champions and Olympic gold medalists both. Two of the greatest defenders of all time and also two of the most beloved, well-respected players in the game, players who share Nuss’ diminutive frame (no player in that triumvirate stands taller than 5-foot-10).

How’d Nuss respond when she alas got to play Ludwig for the first time, in Germany, no less, during Saturday’s quarterfinals of the Hamburg Elite16?

Unphased. Per usual.

“As Kristen and I were strolling down the streets of Hamburg, we were checking in on our pregame thoughts as we always do. I could tell Kristen was stoked to play Ludwig but she also recognized that special moment that she was going share the court with the best of the best defenders,” Kloth said. “It was a very cool moment to…