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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Dec. 11, 2023) – As the 2023 beach volleyball competition season winds down, we crown a new Beach Pro Tour Champion at the conclusion of the BPT Finals over the weekend. Plus, the U.S. is coming home with two medals from NORCECA San Salvador after positive showings from all four competing teams. We also preview two more NORCECA competitions that are set to conclude this year’s events.
BPT Finals
Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth are your 2023 BPT Finals Champions!
Nuss/Kloth defeated Mariafe Artacho Del Solar/Taliqua Clancy (AUS) 2-0 (21-19, 21-13) in the semis, advancing to a matchup with Cinja Tillmann/Svenja Muller (GER) in the final. Nuss/Kloth defeated the German team 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) to claim their first BPT Finals victory.
The win marks the second consecutive year a U.S. pair has claimed the title. Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes won the inaugural BPT Finals in 2022.
“It was definitely a progression, but we had so many highs and lows,” Kloth told Volleyball World after taking gold. “There are so many different memories that we go back to. Sometimes we got to celebrate, and sometimes we had to be sad, and sometimes we had to work through everything, so it’s been a great long season.”
Nuss and Kloth ended 2023 with six medals on the BPT Tour and bronze at the World Championships in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Prior to the final, their BPT campaign was highlighted with first-place finishes at Challenge La Paz and Elite 16 Uberlandia. The pair has eight medal finishes on the tour dating back to 2022.
Cheng/Hughes finished tied for ninth. Miles Partain and Andy Benesh also finished tied for ninth.
NORCECA San Salvador
A BPT Finals trophy wasn’t the only hardware earned by the U.S. over the weekend. Two medals are coming back to the States as a result of top finishes at NORCECA San Salvador.
Molly Turner/Deahna Kraft won the women’s tournament. The duo only lost one set en route to its victory in the final. Turner/Kraft defeated Belanger/Monkhouse (CAN) 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) in the semifinals. In the final, they defeated Navas/Gonzalez (PUR), 2-1 (14-21, 21-19, 15-11) to claim the top step of the podium.
“That was a really fun match,” Kraft told NORCECA after taking gold. “An amazing opponent, and you really have to earn every single point with them; they never give you free points. We definitely found another gear because we were exhausted; they are so good. It’s fun when both teams are giving their all.”
Avery Poppinga and Katie Lindstrom, the other U.S. women’s pair competing, fell in the quarterfinals to Belanger/Monkhouse 0-2 (19-21, 22-24) and finished in sixth place.
In the men’s tournament, James Shaw and Jordan Hoppe took home silver medals in their first NORCECA tournament together.
Shaw/Hoppe went undefeated in pool play and met up with fellow U.S. pair Charlie Siragusa/Zephyr Dew in the semifinals. Shaw/Hoppe defeated Siragusa/Dew 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) to advance to the final. Siragusa/Dew fell 0-2 (12-21, 19-21) to Sarabia/Virgen (MEX) in the bronze-medal match and finished fourth.
Shaw/Hoppe pushed the final to three sets, falling just short to Chambers/Kopp (CAN) 1-2 (21-15, 17-21, 13-15).
NORCECA Final
The NORCECA Final in Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic, marks the last event for U.S. Beach National Team pairs in 2023.
The U.S. will send Andy Benesh and Miles Partain for the men, and Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft for the women.
Partain/Benesh are coming off a ninth-place finish last weekend at the BPT Finals. The duo has claimed three medals on the BPT circuit in 2023, including gold at Gstaad Elite 16. Partain/Benesh took silver at the last NORCECA event they competed in Punta Cana.
Cannon/Kraft have been a strong pair since partnering mid-season. The duo has improved every time they’ve competed together internationally, including a ninth-place finish at the Beach World Championships, followed by fifth place at BPT Challenge Nuvali.
Both pairs earned the right to represent the U.S. in Juan Dolio by winning NORCECA Playoff 4 at Manhattan Beach on Nov. 10-12.
U23 NORCECA Beach Championship
Preceding the NORCECA Final is the U23 Beach Championship, also in Juan Dolio. The tournament runs Dec. 11-15 and features four U.S. pairs.
Sierra Caffo/Ella Larkin and Delayne Maple/Xolani Hodel will represent the U.S. in the women’s division. The pairs of Tate Calles/Brendan Onishchenko and Kyle Paulson/Sebastian Rodriguez will compete in the men’s division.
Pairs representing the U.S. were determined both from the U23 Beach National Team Trials in June at Hermosa Beach, Calif., and from the 2023 Beach Collegiate National Teams.
As members of the age-group national teams, these athletes all participated in the National Team Development Program (NTDP) summer training block in late July at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in California.
MORE INFORMATION ON THE U23 BEACH NATIONAL TEAM
Rankings
The results of the BPT Finals in Doha did not impact Olympic rankings, so the current standings look similar to a week ago. Standings have the potential to shift at the conclusion of NORCECA Juan Dolio.
2023 BPT Finals Champions Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss are in sole possession of world No. 2 with 8,140 points. World champions Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes are world No. 3 with 7,840 points and one fewer tournament played. Both pairs are behind Ana Patricia/Duda (BRA) who are No. 1 with 9,540 points.
Provisional Olympic rankings have Kloth/Nuss with 10, 260 points and 12 tournaments played, sharing the first position with Ana Patricia/Duda. Carol/Barbara (BRA) are No. 2 with 9, 640 points. Cheng/Hughes are in the provisional Olympic No. 3 spot with 9,040 points, as well as the W designating a quota place obtained for winning the 2023 World Championship.
Julia Scoles and Betsi Flint are still world No. 14 with 5,700 points. They are tied for No. 8 in provisional Olympic rankings with 6,740 points.
In the men’s rankings, Miles Partain and Andy Benesh are world No. 4 with 6,900 points. Anders Mol/Christian Sorum (NOR) remain world No. 1 with 8,860 points. David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig (SWE) are No. 2 with 8,460 points.
Partain/Benesh are currently in a three-way tie for ninth in the provisional Olympic rankings with 6,900 points on eight tournaments played.
Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner are world No. 16 with 5,400 points. They are tied with Partain/Benesh in the provisional Olympic rankings, also claiming the No. 9 position with 6,920 points.
Miles Evans/Chase Budinger are at No. 20 in the world rankings. Evans/Budinger are in sole possession of No. 10 in the provisional Olympic rankings with 6,480 points.
Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk remain inside the top-25 world rankings at No. 24 with 4,760 points. They are tied for the No. 13 spot in the provisional Olympic rankings with 6,080 points.
Current World Rankings – Women
Get set for a big week across the beach volleyball landscape in this latest beach update. We preview the 2023 BPT Finals in Doha featuring the top ranked U.S. teams. NORCECA San Salvador also begins this week with U.S. pairs competing and we recap the results from Challenge Nuvali last week.
The final beach update of November recaps the last Elite 16 event of the season before the finals in Qatar. We preview the challenge event in the Philippines this weekend where several U.S. teams are prepared to hit the sand, and we check in on the latest Olympic rankings.
This edition of the beach update reviews the results of Challenge Chiang Mai in Thailand that saw the U.S. earn more hardware at a Beach Pro Tour event. We also look ahead to the Jao Pessoa Elite 16 and the Geelong Future which are both set to begin on Wednesday.
In this week's beach update, we look to BPT Challenge Chiang Mai that will feature several U.S. Beach National Teams. This comes after U.S. pairs competed in NORCECA Playoff 4 in in Manhattan Beach this past weekend to earn Olympic points. We also have results from the U.S. pairs who were competing at the U21 Beach World Championships, and we check in on the most current Olympic rankings.
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