South Dakota's Taryn Kloth goes for gold at Olympics

South Dakota's Taryn Kloth goes for gold at Olympics
PARIS (AP) — Taryn Kloth, a South Dakota native, had never played beach volleyball until after graduating from Creighton, where she was an indoor volleyball star. Pursuing a business degree, she landed at LSU without any beach skills.

“I was horrible. I couldn’t even talk and walk in the sand at the same time,” she said. “I remember calling my parents: ‘Oh, my gosh. They should probably kick me off the team.’”

Unlike Californians who grew up playing on local beaches, Kloth and teammate Kristen Nuss came to the sport late. After teaming up at LSU, they stayed in Louisiana, training in Nuss’ hometown of New Orleans.

When the world's second-ranked team debuts at Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris on Saturday night, it will be the first American beach volleyball pair to go for Olympic gold without any connection to California.

“We wanted to rewrite the script,” Nuss said. “You had to move to California to make it in this sport. We’ve done a good job of changing that.”

Beach volleyball thrived in California, with its sandy shoreline and year-round weather. The two-person game was invented there, and it has a rich history with prestigious tournaments. Since the NCAA sanctioned beach volleyball in 2016, California schools have dominated.

“California is the hotbed of the sport,” Nuss said. “People grow up going to the beach, playing the sport. Louisiana was definitely not the hotbed of beach volleyball when I was growing up. We had to beg other junior teams to play in tournaments.”

Kloth played indoor volleyball at Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska, and arrived at LSU needing to learn. Her only beach experience was hitting the ball around with friends at a lake in South Dakota.

“I wouldn’t even call it a beach. It was like concrete with dust on top,” she said. “We would just play indoor volleyball outside.”

Kloth quickly mastered the beach game, going 27-0 with two partners in her first full season at LSU in 2020. In her second year, she and Nuss went 36-0, including victories over UCLA and top-ranked USC.

By the time she graduated, Kloth had a support system in place.

“I was thrown into a very different culture, and they were gracious in welcoming me,” she said.

“Our coach was here. We had a place to stay and our gym. The cost of living was definitely something that kept us here,” Nuss said.

The Americans have dominated Olympic beach volleyball, especially on the women's side. All previous U.S. pairs sent to the Summer Games had some connection to California. Nuss and Kloth hope to start a new trend.

“They felt like there’s no need to come to California,” Walsh Jennings, in Paris as an analyst, said. "They knew what they wanted and just went with it. When you’re working to become the best, sometimes people question your judgment. But ultimately, it’s your call."