AVP ATLANTA CHAMPIONS

Wow. Where to begin? I guess it would only be fair to talk about our fantastic journey to Atlanta. Buddy and Jill Trahan made all of Kristen’s dreams come true when they said we could ride in the RV with them to Atlanta. We were sprawled out across the couches, the table, took a nap or two on the 7-hour drive over to Hotlanta (but LA is wayyyy hotter). I am telling you, it is the best way to travel. There is not a plane, airport, or car that I would have rather traveled in. So huge thanks to Buddy and Jill!

When we arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday night, Kristen and I checked into our hotel and went on a search to find some food. Of all the restaurant choices in downtown Atlanta we happened to pick the same one as the 3 best friends with BYB Pictures and AVP Uncovered. They came to the Bayou to follow us around in the beginning of the week. Let me explain a bit. Last week, we received a text about an inquiry about doing an episode about a week in the life of Kristen and Taryn. Of course, we were honored to be asked and immediately said yes! These guys are amazing and so dedicated to spreading the love of beach volleyball to anyone that will listen. Make sure you are on the lookout for the episodes that will be released!

Thursday morning, we had a nice 45-minute drive to the qualifier location because the AVP newbie, me, didn’t know the qualifier is in a different location. Don’t worry, I am learning! Kristen and I woke up on a mission. We knew that we had to win three games in a single elimination bracket to make it into the main draw. Making it through the qualifier in three games in the heat on Thursday morning and afternoon was amazing. That was my first qualifier, and we were able to see all our friends from USA Collegiate Volleyball training. Shoutout to USA Volleyball for allowing us to meet some of the best people! Rally Volleyball did a great job hosting the qualifier. That is where our conference tournament for LSU was held before moving to Huntsville. There were some additional nerves for me. Rally was the location of my complete melt down at conference. I have never felt so defeated in beach volleyball before and there was nothing I could do. There is no way that I rewrite the past, but I was bound and determined to change the outcome from my previous experience there. Back to AVP ATL – we were in. We had just qualified for the main draw, and I had a permanent smile plastered on my face for at least 30 minutes.

Phase 1 = complete. After making it into the main draw, the AVP puts you up in a hotel until you lose. At this point we were so sick of moving our from the house to the RV to a hotel and then to another hotel that we were going to do whatever it took to stay in that hotel until Sunday. That means we had a lot of work to do on the court. The AVP was chalk full of Olympians and well-known experienced AVP players. Friday morning, we went down for breakfast, and we could not have felt more like freshmen in high school walking into the cafeteria absolutely clueless. Look to your right and you see an Olympian, look to your left and there’s another one. I was just trying to stay composed and not freak out, so I set my stuff down and went to go make myself an omelet. Then disaster struck, baby freshman Taryn’s alarm is going off. I couldn’t hear it in the next room over. Kristen kindly says, “I think your alarm is going off”. As my phone is interrupting people’s breakfast I scurried over to my phone and shut it off and apologized. My face had to be tomato red.

We had a game against Sara Hughes and Canadian Olympian, Brandie Wilkerson at 3:30 PM on center court. The nerves, excitement, and all out competition was about to begin, and Kristen and I were hungry for all of it. After a win, we moved along the winner’s bracket to a 10 pm game. By winning the first two matches on Friday you were guaranteed to make it to Sunday. Remember when I said we didn’t want to move our stuff again? As soon as Drew said that I was sold. We wanted that! We played a thrilling 3 setter and came out victorious, sending us into Sunday for sure. By the way, this was the first tournament that either of us played in the freeze. There were so many rules that I had learned on the fly. Such as, the ball can’t hit the net, you must serve to earn the point in the freeze, and you still have to switch sides. That night Kristen and I didn’t get back until about 12:15am and didn’t sleep with the adrenaline pumping through our bodies until about 2 am.

Bring on Saturday, we had one game and the courts were behind, shocking I know. We were moved to court 2. There was a game on stadium court that had just finished at the beginning of our first set. There was an announcement that we got moved and people came flooding out of the stands to court 2 to watch. I was going back to serve and could see the commotion. In my head I am thinking “oh my gosh this is… stop… you need to serve & play… focus”. But in all honesty, the AVP beach volleyball fans are AMAZING. They are so close to the court and so supportive of good volleyball. We battled and after two sets we were into the semifinals for Sunday!

We walked into the player’s area, and I was approached by another player wondering when dinner would arrive. To which I responded, “we get dinner”? She couldn’t believe she asked us, in her words “I asked the two worst people”. To me, everything from the hotel, food, and recovery drinks were all a huge plus. I was so grateful to be there. Kristen and I said bye to our families and walked home, excited but again hungry. We knew we had to recover. This would be the fourth day in a row of playing.

Sunday. Championship Sunday. The final day. We had a match late Sunday morning against the team we had a tight 3 set match with on the first day. We knew it would be a battle, it was the game to make it to the finals. Thankfully, our coach, Drew was there and calmed us down and we made it through to the finals after another 3-set match. We were finals bound. We were set to play the US Olympians known as team Slaes. The emotions were going wild. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous the entire tournament! I have watched this on Amazon Prime and now we were there. On center court. On Championship Sunday. We battled in another 3-set match. After 6 freeze points, Kristen hit a beautiful jumbo. We won. She fell to the ground, and I just held my head. How? What just happened? I will tell you; we had won – we includes Drew Hamilton and Kristen Nuss. My crew and my team. I wouldn’t want anyone else. I am blown away still, and no I haven’t slept yet.

The interview showed our lack of words. Kristen and I couldn’t even string enough words together to form an understandable statement. We celebrated with hugs, hugs, and more hugs. An unbelievable feeling. But we have to wake up from this daze, we have more work to do. We must be better. We need more touches, more practice let the grind continue!

By: Taryn Kloth