Andy Benesh had reservations about returning to Switzerland this week for the Volleyball World Gstaad Elite16. His previous experience there, playing middle for Lausanne UC in 2018, wasn’t exactly ideal. A back injury suffered at USC was further worsened in Switzerland, to the point that he figured his volleyball career was over. So he flew home and, not knowing what else to do, took an ill-advised job as a financial advisor.
“I wouldn’t do it again,” he said years ago, when he made his professional debut on the beach. “Not in a million years.”
And there was also the matter of those parking tickets. When he left Switzerland, he did so in a hurry, and with no plans to return. So if he had a few outstanding parking tickets, then, well, oh well. Only it didn’t take a million years for him to return. Just five.
And he and Miles Partain are now coming home with a Gstaad cowbell, no legal troubles over a parking ticket or two, and perhaps the most monumental international pro beach volleyball gold medal an American men’s pair has won since Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“For sure beach,” Benesh said with a laugh when asked if he enjoyed playing beach or indoors more in Switzerland. “I played middle indoor so I was out half the game so that kinda sucked. It’s beautiful to play in the mountains, and I’m really glad we got a sunny day today. It’s been a dream come true.”
It wasn’t just the gold itself that makes Sunday’s win so indelible, but the manner in which they won, and the teams they beat to do it. Twice, they beat Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, once in pool and then again in the finals, a 15-21, 21-11, 18-16 epic, becoming just the second team in history to beat the Vikings twice in the same tournament (the first is Alex Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen, who did so in the 2022 Rosarito Elite16).
Sandwiched in between their victories over Norway were sweeps over Brouwer and Meeuwsen, Pedro Solberg and Guto Carvalhaes, and George Wanderley and Andre Loyola, two of whom were once ranked No. 1 in the world in the last two years.
“It’s a dream come true and amazing,” Partain said afterwards. “And not expected.”
To expect this performance, this soon, even with the type of generational talent many have…
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