'Austin Aces' pro beach volleyball team donating to Texas flood relief
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Olympians Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss, who will play at the HEB Center in Cedar Park this weekend as part of the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) League, are donating proceeds from merchandise sales and meet-and-greet tickets to flood relief efforts.
The early July floods claimed the lives of 135 people across the state.
"It's just a devastating event and there's no good way to go about it and you just want to give love and support in any way that you can," Brasher said.
The duo competed in the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
The AVP League works differently from other professional sports in that qualifying teams get assigned to represent a city. Nuss and Brasher - both LSU alumni - don't have other ties to Texas.
But merely getting selected to represent Austin the past two years was more than enough from the pair to want to step in.
"During those times, you need that."
Taryn Brasher on how communities rally together after storms
"We do proudly represent the city and me especially, I'm from Louisiana, and the South is somewhere I consider home," Nuss said. "And we were actually in Switzerland at the time when we heard the news about the devastating floods, and when the opportunity presented itself, the fact that we were coming to Austin was the perfect opportunity to help out any way we can."
Brasher added that "moving [to Louisiana] was the first time I was effected by a very big storm - a hurricane, and just seeing how much everybody pools together in the community is just so special, and during those times you need that, and yeah we just really want to support everyone who was effected."
The team's matches are Friday and Saturday. On Friday, doors open at 5 p.m. and play starts at 6 p.m. On Saturday, doors open at 4 p.m. and play starts at 5 p.m. Learn more about the team's meet-and-greet here.
You can watch Saturday's matches on CW Austin.