TKN hit road to Brasilia
Pro beach: Saquarema silver medalists Brasher and Nuss have lightning turnaround to next Elite stop; Partain and Benesh to make 2025 debut
Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss came up five points short in a tiebreaker on Sunday during the gold-medal match of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite tournament.
With a bronze in 2025’s opening stop in Mexico and a silver medal in the first of back-to-back events in Brazil, TKN won’t have to wait long to have a chance to add to their world-tour stash.
The qualifier for the BPT top-tier tourney in Brasilia comes on Wednesday and pool play begins for the women on Wednesday and the men on Thursday.
USA Olympians Brasher (nee Kloth) and Nuss absorbed a 21-19, 16-21, 15-10 loss to Thamela (Coradello) and Victoria (Lopes) in the Saquarema final as the Brazilians were inspired by the raucous support from a packed house of their home-country fans on the Campo de Aviacao.
“I’m so happy,” Thamela told the media after the pair earned their second world-tour gold medal. “The stadium was boiling today and we’ve been very fortunate to have been getting such incredible support since the tournament started on Wednesday. It wasn’t easy, but we did it and winning in front of our compatriots, our families and friends is really special.”
Thamela, 24, and Victoria, 25, will be the top seeds again in Brasilia. Second-seeded TKN are one of three American women’s duos among the 16 that will move directly to pool play. Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon are No. 3, while Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw are No. 7.
USA Olympian Cheng and Shaw (a Naperville native) lost in the bronze-medal match for a second consecutive BPT Elite, being swept 16 and 16 by Germans Svenja Muller and Cinja Tillmann. Kelly and Molly each earned $12,000. TKN will split the $23,000 second-place check.
Four more American pairs spice the 16-team one-match qualifier that will fill out the 24-team Brasilia main draw: Kimberly Hildreth-Teegan Van Gunst (seeded second in the “Q”), Toni Rodrigues-Kylie Deberg (third), Maddie Anderson-Brooke Bauer (sixth) and Hailey Harward-Molly Phillips (ninth).
Meanwhile, the iconic Beach Volley Vikings from Norway, Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, went back to business on Sunday, winning a beach fan’s dream title tussle over the Golden Swedes, David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig, 18 and 15.
A gold medal in their 2025 debut made it five victories in their last six BPT tournaments, including a first-place finish in the lucrative Finals in Doha. The Olympic gold medalists from the 2021 Tokyo Games, Mol, 27, and Sorum, 29, cruised through the Saquarema Elite field undefeated, dropping only one set. They improved to 8-5 all-time against Ahman and Hellvig and earned their 27th world-tour gold as partners.
“It’s pretty cool to start the season with a win,” Sorum said after taking down the reigning Paris Olympic gold medalists. “We had a nice offseason, worked hard at the gym when we got back, and I can’t believe we got to win our first tournament of the year.”
Completing the podium were the Dutch duo of Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, who blew out Brazilians Pedro Oliveira and Renato Lima 11 and 14) in the bronze-medal match.
Mol and Sorum are seeded No. 1 in the upcoming Brasilia tour stop, and Ahman and Hellvig are No. 3.
USA Olympians Miles Partain and Andy Benesh will make their 2025 debut there. They have not played in an international event since advancing to the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics in August. However, they won the AVP Chicago Heritage Series tournament over the Labor Day Weekend and then went 10-0 during the fall AVP League, representing the Dallas Dream.
Partain, 23, and the 30-year-old Benesh (seeded 10th) are the only American men’s team among the first 16. In the qualifier, Claim Schalk and James Shaw, the surprise bronze medalists at the Quintana Roo Elite, are the No. 2 seeds and USA Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans are seeded ninth.
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