Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
Photo credit: Mackenzie Andrews
By Jon Nyatawa
Is this a dream? Creighton alumnae Taryn Kloth squeezes her arm with her thumb and index finger as she smiles while sitting inside her Louisiana apartment one morning earlier this spring.
The beach volleyball star will officially become the first-ever female Creighton graduate to participate in the Olympic Games when she competes in Paris later this month.
And it’s no accident. Kloth’s path to this milestone moment is defined by her fearlessness and her dedication — she set a goal and relentlessly pursued it. She knows this.
But there are instances, still, when Kloth admittedly has trouble wrapping her mind around it all.
“I pinch myself a lot every day,” said Kloth, BSBA'18. “It’s crazy. I'm like, what am I doing? How? What? Is this really happening?”
(Also competing in the Paris Olympics this summer: Former Creighton soccer star Duncan McGuire. He was named to the U.S. Olympic Men's Soccer Team. It'll be the first time since 1936 that two Bluejays are participating in the same Olympics.)
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Kloth and her partner, Kristen Nuss, are No. 2 in FIVB beach volleyball world rankings. They’ll be one of two women’s beach volleyball teams representing the United States in the 2024 Olympic Games.
Kloth and Nuss just won a FIVB Beach Pro Tour event in May, their third top 3 finish in their last four international tournaments. In 2023, during Olympic qualifying competitions, they won three tournaments and finished among the top 3 seven times.
Kloth is the at-the-net force who can alter opponents’ shot with her height and win points with her powerful swings. Nuss is one of the best defensive players in the game and a skilled attacker.
Yet their path to this point is unconventional – especially the route Kloth took.
> Kloth is from South Dakota, which isn’t known for its volleyball prowess.
Years ago, she and a few other local talents were part of the launch of a brand-new club team that held practices in a church basement. She eventually emerged as a top high school recruit and chose to attend Creighton.
> Typically, beach volleyball stars play the sport most of their lives.
Kloth was an indoor standout who switched to the beach game after graduating from Creighton. She joined LSU’s program as a graduate student and essentially started from scratch. “I couldn't walk and chew gum in the sand,” Kloth said. “It was embarrassing.”
> Kloth said she remembers Googling “how to become a professional volleyball player."
In 2020, she and Nuss improbably won a tournament in Franklin, Tenn. They beat a team ranked in the top 10 internationally. They still had a season left to finish at LSU, but they both immediately started dreaming big.
> Many beach volleyball tandems switch partners as they earn qualifying points and work their way up the sport’s ranks.
But not Kloth and Nuss. After their tournament win in Tennessee, Kloth and Nuss teamed up together for an undefeated super senior season at LSU in 2021. They were co-rookies of the year on the AVP Tour in 2021.
> Their first international tournament played out like a movie.
Two years ago in Australia, Kloth and Nuss were on a competition's reserve list. Until the very last moment. A positive COVID test opened up one final qualifying spot. They took it. They paid $8,000 to travel there, knowing that one loss in the win-or-go-home qualifier could send them packing. But they won seven matches in a row. That got them into the main draw. And they won that, too. “I couldn't freaking breathe — I was so nervous,” Kloth said. “But you bet on yourself and you tell yourself, ‘No, we can do this.’”
> Kloth is really tall. Nuss is super short.
Not that this matters too much. But Nuss, at 5-foot-6, will be the shortest beach player to compete in the Olympics since 1996. Kloth is 6-foot-4. Their height difference is the largest of any Olympic team.
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CREIGHTON DAYS CODE: SummerOlympics
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Through it all, Kloth has often been reminded of the lessons she learned while at Creighton. That’s where she developed resilience and perseverance — where she discovered what she could accomplish when she set a goal and relentlessly pursued it.
“I had a broken foot my freshman year, and then I had to switch positions, and then I didn't play, and then I did play, and then I didn't play again, and then I did play,” Kloth said. “It was just all of those things. I needed all of those. And it sucks to know that you need those tough times to make you who you eventually become. But those things happened for a reason.”
Kloth was Creighton’s 2018-19 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, finishing with a 3.87 GPA in finance and marketing. She was a two-time first-team All-BIG EAST performer and an honorable mention All-American. During her career, the Bluejays won eight BIG EAST regular season and tournament championships and they earned four NCAA tournament berths (including two top 16 seeds). She was key contributor on the 2016 Elite Eight team.
A leader, both on and off the court.
“I think she encompasses what is right about college athletics,” Creighton volleyball coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “She’s really talent, competitive and driven, but she loves people and she’s always putting others first. She’s special, and I’m so proud of what she’s accomplished.”
Booth will travel to Paris to cheer Kloth on later this month. So will assistant coach Angie Oxley Behrens. And there will be a few of Kloth’s Creighton teammates and friends in the stands, too.
When Kloth steps on the sand, she’ll join a distinct group of Bluejay alumni. Before this year, only six Creighton graduates had ever competed in the Olympics.
But Kloth’s goals extend beyond just getting to Paris. She wants to win.
She and Nuss have competed on six different continents. Last year alone, their combined time spent on airplanes equaled two full weeks. They’ve hired a nutritionist, a sports psychologist, an agent, a manager and a strength coach.
“There is a lot of pressure and stress, and you are trying your best to represent your country as well as possible,” Kloth said. “And then you have a moment. That’s really what it is. It's just a moment. You have a moment to show what you have done for four years. But I’m excited to see what we can do.”
Team USA has earned at least one beach volleyball medal in every Olympics since the sport’s adoption in 1996.
Beach volleyball in Paris will take place from July 27 to Aug. 10 at the Eiffel Tower Stadium. The women’s medal matches are scheduled for Aug. 9.
