AVP Next Gold: Clearwater, FL
Photo By: Michael Gomez
January 2-3, 2021 - Clearwater, FL
“Although it was not the result we wanted, I am very happy with our overall play. The competition was great, especially getting to play a very notable Brazilian team in Larissa Franca Maestrini (Olympic bronze medalist) and Lili Maestrini. A lot was learned from the 3 set battle we had with them in the finals match”
- Kristen Nuss
“Although it wasn’t the outcome that we wanted, it was a great experience to learn from. Larissa Franca (all time leader of beach volleyball titles) is an incredible player. Playing her and her partner in the finals in the third set is what competition is all about. Now it's time for LSU beach season, ready to spend everyday training to get better.”
- Taryn Kloth
Opponents:
Quarters: W 2-0 vs Annika Rowland/Teegan Van Gunst
Semifinals: W 2-0 vs Kim Hildreth/Sarah Schermerhorn
Finals: L 1-2 vs Larissa Maestrini Franca/Liliane Maestrini Franca.
Our final tournament of the year. A crazy year that started in June when I was lucky enough that Kristen agreed to play with me in a small local tournament. Over the course of the year we ended up playing in 15 tournaments. Some bigger than others, some were a mere 10 minutes away, while others we hopped on a plane and flew away without knowing where we were exactly going. One time we even played in two tournaments in one day.
This was the grand finale, our last tournament before we would return to LSU and fight for a National Championship. That has been a goal for both of us for as long as we can remember. This one started off just like the previous Clearwater tournament, only two matches the first day and 5 back to back games the second day. We had a clan of people there to support us. Apparently nobody else got the memo to bring your own full cheering section. It is something we all enjoy, the beach and volleyball. None of us can get enough of it.
During the quarterfinals we were playing the VanGunst twins and found ourselves down big in the second set. However, if you would have been passing by and judging our game based on our demeanor, you would have thought we were about to win. That could not have been further from the truth… we were down 17-12 but managed to claw our way back and even pull of the set win. This was all thanks to our wonderful coaches, the entire Nuss family, they would all have feedback and give a different opinion on what we should do differently (even if we did not want their feedback - it was coming no matter what).
The excitement carried over to the finals match. We learned we were going to face the famous Brazilian team consisting of Larissa Maestrini Franca (previous Olympic bronze medalist) and Liliane Maestrini Franca. The first set was smooth sailing for us. We were in the drivers seat but then the experience of numerous international tournament wins and countless years of volleyball training got the better of us. We were on to a third set. The third set was a back and forth thriller with them coming out on top with a score of 15-13. Of course, we were devastated. No one likes to lose.
Not one of our family members could say anything that would cheer us up. No one could make the loss go away. I just went up to my hotel room, showered off all the sand and sweat from the day and got my thoughts together. In conclusion my thoughts came back to one thing, there is no one else I would rather play with than you, Kristen. Thats it. I have so much trust in her. I know that we will take the loss, learn from it, use it as fuel, and go get better. There is so much to learn from each tournament and although we didn’t want to lose, it has allowed us to work through even more challenges and push ourselves to levels we didn’t know existed.
By: Taryn Kloth