Taryn Kloth
6-4
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 9, 2022) – U.S. Beach National Team pairs posted two top-10 finishes at the Gstaad Elite 16 this week as Taryn Kloth/Kristen Nuss tied for fifth and Emily Stockman/Megan Kraft tied for ninth at the Beach Pro Tour event in Gstaad, Switzerland.
Kloth/Nuss finished fifth after a three-set quarterfinal battle against Latvia’s Tina Graudina/Anastasija Kravcenoka. The Latvians won the first set, 21-19, but Kloth/Nuss countered 18-21 in the second. The third went to extra points, and Graudina/Kravcenoka won the final three for a 20-18 set victory and 2-1 match win.
Both pairs held match points in the final frame. Latvia held the first at 14-13, but the Americans fought off that and two more. Kloth/Nuss held two themselves at 16-17 and 17-18.
Kloth/Nuss now have four top-five finishes during their inaugural season on the Beach Pro Tour. They’ve won two tournaments and have finished no lower than ninth.
Before the quarterfinal loss, Kloth/Nuss won three consecutive elimination matches. They beat a team from Mexico in two sets to escape the pool, then they swept an Argentinian pair during the Round of 24. In the Round of 16, they downed the bracket’s top-seeded Tanja Huberli/Nina Brunner of Switzerland in three sets to clinch a quarterfinal appearance.
Stockman/Kraft took ninth after advancing to the Round of 16. They won Pool G with a 2-0 record, clinching the group with a 2-1 (21-12, 17-21, 20-18) victory over Brazil’s Fernanda Alves/Maria Elisa Mendes Ticon Antonelli. That earned them a spot directly in the Round of 16, where they fell to Germany’s Karla Borger/Julia Sude.
It was Kraft’s first Elite 16 tournament.
Also making their Elite 16 debuts were Sarah Schermerhorn/Corinne Quiggle. They were drawn into Pool F with Kloth/Nuss and won an all-American opener in three sets, 2-1 (16-21, 21-18, 15-13). They then faced Graudina/Kravcenoka in the pool title match, falling in three, 2-1 (21-12, 21-23, 15-11). In the Round of 24, Schermerhorn/Quiggle lost to Brazilian duo Victoria Lopes Pereira Tosta/Taina Silva Bigi in another three-set match.
One other American duo competed in a Beach Pro Tour contest this week. Melissa Fuchs Powell/Tambre Nobles won one qualification match at the Lecce (Italy) Futures, but they lost in the second qualifier round.
The Beach Pro Tour continues with three tournaments next week: a Challenge event in Espinho, Portugal, and Futures events in Daegu, South Korea, and Ciro Marina, Italy. American duos are currently registered to compete in all three.
