They’ve tried. Many of them. Twenty-six times before Thursday morning in Switzerland for the Gstaad Elite16 had American teams matched up against Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum on the FIVB circuit. Only once had a USA pair bested the 2021 Olympic gold medalists and 2022 World Champions. That came at this very same Switzerland tournament, in 2017, when a 44-year-old John Hyden, defending for Ryan Doherty, beat the then-up-and-coming Beach Volley Vikings, just their second match against an American pair.
The Norwegians won the next 24 against USA teams. But that long run came to an end on Thursday, when Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, in their first meeting with Norway, stunned Mol and Sorum, 19-21, 22-24, 12-15, in the first round of pool play at the Volleyball World Gstaad Elite16.
“Match was a battle,” Partain said. “We tried to play hard all the way through, and Andy played great. It’s the same sport as back home once you’re on the court.”
Against, of course, a team at a level which no pair in the USA — or the world, for that matter — can match. Briefly, it appeared Benesh and Partain would go the way of so many other teams who meet Norway for the first time. It took Mol and Sorum little time to establish a 9-5 lead, which became 18-12. Then Benesh, who has finished in the top three in total blocks in tournaments in Itapema, Saquarema and Ostrava, found his timing against Mol, blocking the Americans back to a 19-20 deficit, a 7-2 run that nearly became an 8-2 run. A Benesh block on set point was covered by Mol, who spun and put away the finishing touch for the opening set, 21-19, but the message had evidently been sent: Benesh and Partain could compete with the world’s best.
A 7-4 lead in the second was extended to 12-9, then 17-14, until Mol flipped it once more, blocking Benesh enough to retake the lead at 20-19. And then it was Benesh again finding his block, stuffing Sorum and then, two points later, blocking a Mol angle swing for a 24-22 second-set win.
Going to three with Norway is one thing. Mol and Sorum had gone to three 13 times this season. They’d only lost once.
A 4-1 lead for Benesh and Partain quickly disappeared, dissolving into a 5-5 tie. Even it stayed through 12-12, at which point Partain did what the world is rapidly discovering he can do, taking over with an option swing to keep the lead at…
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