TKN's knock is answered
Pro beach: Brasher and Nuss mine gold in the second of back-to-back Elite title matches in Brazil
Their third tournament of 2025 proved the charm for American beach superstars Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss.
After collecting bronze in Quintana Roo and silver in Saquerema, the Olympians broke through with the gold medal in Brasilia, prevailing on Sunday with an air-tight sweep over home-country fan favorites Carol (Solberg) and Rebecca (Cavalcanti) in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite-level championship match.
The razor-thin margin in a 22-20, 21-19 victory came down to execution at the end of both sets.
In the first, second-seeded TKN evened the count at 20 on a knuckle-poke over the block by the 6-foot-4 Brasher (nee Kloth) that landed inches short of the back line, and got the clincher on a sharp-dropping hybrid float serve by the 5-foot-6 Nuss that was shanked sideways by Carol.
After the fifth-seeded Brazilian Olympians had clawed back to tie the second set at 19, Brasher sided out with a precise shot down the line. Then Nuss dug Carol’s crosscourt spike and put an exclamation point on the match with a sizzler down the middle that Rebecca could only get one arm on, the ball flying careening off the court.
“Oh, my goodness! It was so difficult! If we could stop playing them multiple times, that would be great,” Nuss, 27, said during the on-court postmatch interview. “They are incredible and we knew that in front of this home crowd, it would be pretty rowdy and they would bring the passion like they always do. So we just tried to stick with each other and trust ourselves.”
Brasher and Nuss — the silver medalists in Brasilia last year —are 2-1 against new partners Carol and Rebecca during the 2025 season. The Brazilians swept in the Quintana Roo semis and the Americans won in three during Saquarema pool play.
In Sunday’s final, the water-bug-quick Nuss made 22 digs and notched 12 kills against two errors. Brasher registered 20 kills, an ace and three blocks. The Louisiana State products will split the $40,000 first-place check after winning their ninth gold in 13 title matches and 15th medal overall since joining the international circuit in 2021.
“Kristen came in and woke me up with a great enthusiastic ‘Let’s go get gold today!’ But we had to fight against an amazing Brazilian team,” Brasher, 28, said. “They are both just so incredible — and we had to play in front of Brazilian fans that are just so rowdy, and so fun, and just love the game.”
Carol, 37, and Rebecca, 31, have a silver and a gold in four events this season, standing on the top step of the podium at Quintana Roo.
Reigning Olympic champions Duda and Ana Patricia of Brazil were extended to three sets in the bronze-medal match by Dutch qualifiers Emi van Driel and Wies Bekhuis, winning the tiebreaker 15-12.
In the men’s title match on Sunday, third-seeded Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands were pressed to the limit by 15th-seeded Brazilians Evandro and Arthur Lanci. The last two sets went into overtime with the home-country pair winning the second 23-21 and the Dutchmen pulling out the tiebreaker 18-16.
The BPT medal stash for Paris Olympics quarterfinalists Boermans and De Groot grew to two golds, two silvers and four bronzes.
After being upset in three sets by Evandro and Arthur Lanci in the semifinals, Norway’s Beachvolley Vikings, Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, earned the bronze medal by nipping Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak of Poland, 20-18 in the tiebreaker.
The world tour will take a break at the Elite level until the Ostrava event in the Czech Republic, May 25-June 1. The domestic AVP opens its season on May 10-11 with the Huntington Beach Heritage Series tournament.
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That last Brasher Nuss set was sketchy for awhile...