One 2024 Olympic women's beach team is sticking together. The other is not.
In beach volleyball, decisions that greatly impact the Olympics are often made years before the Opening Ceremony.
Qualifying typically takes place in the two seasons leading into the Olympics. The Los Angeles Games qualification system hasn't been announced yet, but if tradition holds, qualifying would start in early 2027 as the sport returns to its spiritual Southern California home for the 2028 Games.
The top American women are already lining up.
Taryn Brasher (née Kloth) and Kristen Nuss, who went into the 2024 Olympics ranked No. 2 in the world, have been steadfast since a tearful round of 16 defeat in Paris that they will keep their partnership through LA 2028.
Brasher, who got married on Jan. 10, and Nuss, who will marry Trey Cruz on Jan. 9, 2026, live in different units of the same building in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while most other U.S. teams are in California. Their bond is so strong, and so well known in the beach community, that they said no other players reached out to either of them after Paris to gauge interest about possibly switching teams.
No U.S. women's Olympic beach pair has stayed together to bid for the following Games since the end of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings' dynasty in 2012 (and May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings were apart for much of that London Olympic cycle).
In Paris, the U.S. won zero women's beach medals for the first time since the 2000 Sydney Games.
Brasher and Nuss developed a mantra since first teaming up at LSU in 2021: "rewrite the script." It's a nod to their unconventional beach story. In particular Nuss, being undersized (5 feet, 6 inches, the shortest U.S. Olympic beach volleyball player since 1996) and from Louisiana and not California.
Brasher, who is 6-4, is from South Dakota. She played four years of indoor volleyball at Creighton before transferring to LSU.
They began 2023 having to go through qualifying to earn main draw spots at international tournaments. They took bronze at the World Championships at the end of that year, then went into the Paris Olympics ranked behind only Brazilians Ana Patricia and Duda.
With the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop, Brasher and Nuss won all three matches in a difficult group. Then they got unlucky, drawing world No. 3 Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada in the round of 16. Brasher and Nuss were swept, while Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson went on to take silver to Ana Patricia and Duda.
Brasher called the defeat the most devastating moment of her life. "Four years to 40 minutes," she said, simply contrasting the work put in versus the approximate length of a straight-sets match.
"I was embarrassed for how I represented Team USA," Brasher said on a “Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy” episode published last October. "It was really, really hard to come back. People were doing celebrations for us. I had to leave, and I would go and cry because I was just so disappointed in myself.
"I don't think I have the best taste of the Olympics in my mouth right now because I was just disappointed. But still, every time I think back, I'm like, that was so cool, and it was such an honor to be on Team USA. That is one of the greatest, highest honors that I could ever even imagine."
Five days after the Closing Ceremony, an ill Brasher, buoyed by Nuss' encouragement, and Nuss returned to compete at the Manhattan Beach Open, the most prestigious annual tournament in the U.S.
They won the event and continued their strong play into 2025. In five top-level international tournaments this season, they have two wins, a runner-up, a third-place finish and a 13th-place outlier.
"There's one more chapter left to be written," Nuss said of the "flip the script" narrative, "and that is a gold medal in LA '28."
The other 2024 U.S. Olympic women's beach team — Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng — lost in the quarterfinals in Paris after winning the 2023 World title.
Hughes, who hasn't played since sustaining a significant Achilles tendon injury in January, now trains with Ally Batenhorst, according to NBC Los Angeles. They plan to debut as a team later this year or in 2026 and to bid for the 2028 Games together. Traditionally, a nation can qualify no more than two Olympic beach teams per gender.
NBC LOS ANGELES: Beach volleyball world champion Sara Hughes reveals new partner
Batenhorst, listed at 6 feet, 5 inches, played beach and indoors at Nebraska before completing her college career indoors at USC in 2024 (Cheng and Hughes' alma mater). She began a professional indoor career earlier this year but is now transitioning to make her pro beach debut.
"I watched her entire career, especially at USC," Hughes told NBC Los Angeles. "And there's always this little rumors going around that she liked playing beach volleyball. And when I first saw her, I was like, wow, she just has such athleticism. She looks like a true leader on the court. She's very passionate, and I thought all those would just translate to the beach."
Cheng has played with beach veteran Molly Shaw since the international season began in March. In five top-level international tournaments together, they have placed fourth, fourth, 13th, fifth and ninth. They have not announced whether they've committed to sticking together through 2028 Olympic qualifying.
Shaw said her pairing with Cheng is a "very unexpected" one.
"I sent (Cheng) a text in the fall," Shaw said on the Sandcast podcast. "I knew she was still with Sara, but I kind of shoot my shot, keep her on the radar. She's like, 'Sorry, you know, I'm good.' I was like, 'OK, all good.' Huge fan of her always. Then the (Hughes) injury happened. I don't really know too much background info, but we connected, and I was just like blown away. I was like, 'Me?' I was even like, 'Are you sure?' She's been one of the dream partners that I've always wanted to play with."
Category: General Sports
