Partain and Benesh Place Fifth on Sand in Olympics

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

As one of two United States pairs entered in the men’s beach volleyball competition at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Miles Partain and Andy Benesh were hoping to earn a spot on the medal platform.

Earning five out of a possible six points, they placed  second in the group stage behind Chileans Jorge Luis Alayo and Noslen Diaz, then upset the Italian duo of Samuele Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai, 21-17, 21-18, in the round of 16. America’s other tandem, Miles Evans and Chase Budinger, won their lucky loser match before falling to Christian Sorum and  Anders Mol of Norway in the round of 16.

After their three-set win against Brazil’s Andre Loyola and George Wanderley in the final round of pool play, Partain and Benesh issued a statement through USA Volleyball that they were parting ways with their coach Mike Placek, whom the duo had worked with since partnering up in the fall of 2022. Under Placek’s guidance they won three straight Elite16 medals in the summer of 2023 and on the AVP Tour they reached three straight finals (winning two) and were selected 2023 Team of the Year.

Using a higher-risk, more aggressive strategy worked against Alayo and Diaz. They tried it again on August 7 when Partain and Benesh faced undefeated Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan from Qatar in the quarterfinals, but this time they lost 21-14, 21-16, officially finishing in fifth place.

Partain won three City titles at Palisades High and graduated as valedictorian in 2020 before joining older brother Marcus on the UCLA indoor team. He appeared in seven matches as a reserve setter in 2021 and was named 2022 MPSF Player of the Year and a first-team NVA/AVCA All-America selection in 2023 when he played in all 27 of UCLA’s matches and had multiple kills in 19 of them. He saw action in seven matches in 2023, then left the team to pursue his dream of playing in the Olympics.

Only 22 years old, Miles is the youngest U.S. beach volleyball player in Olympic history. He played for Pac6 Volleyball Club and in 2017 at the age of 15 he and his brother (then 17) become the youngest pair to ever advance to the main draw of an AVP beach event. He paired with Paul Lotman to win his first AVP Championship at the 2022 Atlanta Open.

Last weekend, Partain and Benesh were back in action at the Manhattan Beach Open and the No. 3-seeded duo made it to the finals, falling to top-seeded Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb 21-18, 21-18 despite 11 kills, fiive digs, one block and an ace by Partain. In a three-set semifnal win he had 23 kills and 17 digs.