Paris Olympics: USA’s Kristen Nuss, Taryn Kloth fall to Canada in beach volleyball, miss out on quarterfinals

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The United States women’s beach volleyball team will not put two pairs in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament. Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth lost to Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson in straight sets, 21–19, 21–18, on Monday.

The first set was a back-and-forth exchange, with the U.S. taking a 14–10 lead midway through the match. But Canada rallied to score the next five points to go on top, 15-14. From there, each team exchanged ties and the lead. But a block by Wilkerson earned a 19–17 lead, which Canada held onto to win the set.

Nuss and Kloth initially looked as if they would lose the second set badly, falling behind 10–5. But they fought back, finding the open spaces and forcing errors on the Canadian side. However, Humana-Paredes finally stopped the U.S. rally with an attack point to take an 11–9 lead.

The U.S. couldn’t get any closer from there, falling behind 12–9 and 13–10. Wilkerson’s serve soon led Canada to restore a four-point lead at 15–11. Yet Nuss and Kloth fought back again to tie the set at 18–18 on a block at the net.

However, Wilkerson’s defense at the net was ultimately too tough, getting a block to take a 19–18 lead, and Canada went on to score the next two points for the win. Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes will face Spain’s Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno in the quarterfinals.

The U.S. women will have one pair in the quarterfinals with Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng defeating Italy’s Valentina Gottardi and Marta Menegatti in three sets on Sunday. They will face Switzerland’s Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli in Tuesday’s match.

U.S. men’s pair gets to quarterfinals

On the men’s side, USA’s Miles Partain and Andrew Benesh advanced to the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament. The pair defeated Italy’s Samuele Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai in straight sets, 21–17, 21–18.

In the second set, Partain and Benesh took control after the score was tied 11–11. The pair scored the next five points to take a 16–11 lead, and Cottafava and Nicolai could not recover. Italy did close it to 20–18, but Partain and Benesh got the final point for the victory. The men’s beach volleyball quarterfinals begin on Wednesday, with matchups yet to be announced.

The U.S. controlled the first set in similar fashion, twice building five-point leads at 12–7 and 14–9. Cottafava and Nicolai could never climb back to tie from there.

Partain and Benesh made headlines off the court last week when they split from coach Mike Placek. Since the parting, the two have defeated teams from Brazil and Italy. In a statement about the parting, the team said they wanted to “explore different strategic paths.” Without Placek for the past two matches, that decision appears to have worked out.