Yes Kristen Nuss, Taryn Brasher are still playing post-Paris | LSU

Occasionally, someone from Taryn Brasher’s hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, or her high school will reach out to the former LSU and Olympic beach volleyball star and ask what she’s doing now that the Paris Games are more than a year in the rear-view mirror for her and teammate Kristen Nuss.

“They’re like, ‘So what are you going to do for four years?’” until the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Brasher said. “I’m like, ‘We’re still playing.’

“It makes me angry that it’s not better known, but that’s up to us. We’re trying to make (the sport) more known.”

The former LSU duo has certainly been doing their part to promote the sport they love. And yes, for the record, they’re still playing professionally, and playing quite well.

In five top level international tournaments this year, Nuss and Brasher — or Team TKN as they’re also known — have two wins, a runner-up and a third-place finish. They also have two victories on the U.S.-based Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) tour, including one earlier this month in the AVP Manhattan Beach Open.

Manhattan Beach is like the Wimbledon of American beach volleyball. Nuss and Brasher repeated as champions there, something not done on the women’s side in nearly a decade.

“Winning it again was pretty crazy,” Nuss said.

Now they turn their attention to the AVP championship event, starting Friday in Chicago. After that, they plan on playing two events in Brazil that will get them over the threshold of having played in at least six international events to qualify them for the world championships in November in Adelaide, Australia. In between, they also head back to Southern California for another AVP event in September.

It’s been and continues to be an eventful time for these two dear friends, who live in the same apartment complex in Baton Rouge when they’re not touring the world playing their sport professionally.

Brasher, formerly Taryn Kloth, eloped in January to Miami with her husband Eric, picking the one month of the year when Team TKN is off from competing and the one sure-fire warm spot in the continental U.S.

Nuss will have a hometown wedding this coming January in New Orleans to Trey Cruz and will be Kristen Cruz.

“She is my maid of honor,” Nuss said of Brasher.

“Matron,” Brasher quickly said. “Matron of honor.”

Currently ranked No. 9 in the world, partly because they have played fewer tournaments than any other duo ranked in the top 32, Nuss and Brasher already have their eyes on the 2028 Olympics. As they came off the practice sand at Mango’s beach volleyball club in Baton Rouge, Brasher sported a hat with a logo on the side that says “LA to L.A.”

“That’s what we’re going with,” Nuss said. “Louisiana to Los Angeles.”

The two were the No. 2 seed in the Paris Olympics and went 3-0 in their four-team pool, but were knocked out in elimination play in the round of 16. The shock and disappointment of that result has hardly faded and drives them forward in the new Olympic cycle.

“I take it as a blessing and we’re getting back to doing what we love,” Nuss said. “But don’t get me wrong — there is still a bad taste in my mouth from the Olympics. Do we want to change that at LA in 2028? Absolutely.”