LeBron James stayed.
The opposite 12,000 who had beforehand packed into Eiffel Tower Stadium for the nightcap seashore volleyball match, between Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth and China’s Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia? Gone. Packed it in after an hour or so climate delay that drenched Paris in lightning and showers and left the stadium an eerie resemblance to the fanless Tokyo Video games.
However James, the flagbearer for the USA, remained along with his household, watching on as Nuss and Kloth closed out their closest match of the Video games, a 15-21, 21-16, 15-12 thriller over China.
“The truth that LeBron stayed is fairly particular,” mentioned Nuss, who additionally added that she may now verify “enjoying on the base of the Eiffel Tower in entrance of zero folks at midnight” off her bucket record.
One other verify off that record? Successful pool within the Olympic Video games.
Nuss and Kloth completed pool play 3-0, with the win over China and sweeps over Australia’s Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy and Canada’s Sophie Bukovec and Heather Bansley. Within the single-elimination spherical of 16 TKN will play the winner of one of many fortunate loser matchups.
However profitable pool, whereas good, just isn’t what they got here to Paris for.
“We got here right here for some {hardware},” Nuss mentioned. “We’re not content material. I don’t suppose we’ve put our greatest play on the market. Now it’s win or go residence. Every thing must be on the desk.”
Thursday’s match was actually not their finest. Serve-receive struggles put them in a gap early to Xia and Xue, and after trailing on the opening swap, the People have been by no means in a position to regain the lead, dropping their first and solely set of the Video games. Not that they have been overly involved.
That is the kind of concern that sometimes rears its head. It did so within the Gstaad Elite16, and so they recovered completely high quality, with a second straight gold medal. They recovered simply as properly in Paris, leaning, as ever, on their world-class protection to bail them out till the passing steadied.
“I didn’t cross the ball properly,” Kloth, ceaselessly frank with herself, mentioned afterwards. “That was an enormous issue and I needed to relax. I leaned into Kristen and mentioned I would like you proper now. I used to be struggling, so I used to be leaning on her.”
Nuss is content material enjoying that function, for she is aware of that, irrespective of how uneven issues could also be getting on offense, they will at all times lean on each other — and so they can at all times lean on their protection. Nuss added 11 extra digs to her tournament-leading 44 — 16 greater than No. 2 Mariafe Artacho.
“I do know if serve obtain is struggling, I belief our protection and I do know we’re going to have the ability to earn factors,” mentioned Nuss, who was voted the 2023 Seashore Professional Tour Defensive Participant of the Yr. “It was simply trusting us and I knew our serve obtain was going to settle itself out.”
It did, because it nearly at all times does. Even when the climate delay halted their momentum, up 3-2 within the third, it did little however delay the inevitable. They stayed energetic all through the delay, their coach protecting them transferring.
“Little time for dilly dally,” Nuss mentioned.
They neither dillied nor dallied. China by no means led once more because the USA slowly tacked onto their lead, alas closing it after midnight.
“I simply thought again to apply the place our coach [Drew Hamilton] says ‘You must win these 5 factors proper now,’ ” Kloth mentioned. “On the finish of apply, you’re lifeless drained, however you’re going to discover a method to earn 5 factors, earn 10 factors.”
They discovered a method to earn 15, and after they turned to the empty stadium to offer their thanks, Kloth’s jaw plummeted to the sand, her fingers cupping the aspect of her face for there, on the high, have been 4 lone spectators, whooping and cheering for the USA.
Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth are a present LeBron James couldn’t miss.