Men’s Volleyball | August 08, 2023
ATLANTA – USC men’s volleyball alum Andy Benesh (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) and partner Miles Partain went 5-0 and dropped just one set to win the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) Gold Series Atlanta Open at Atlantic Station on Sunday, Aug. 7.
Benesh collects his fourth AVP title; his second with Partain. The duo also won the AVP’s Huntington Beach Open in May. Benesh won the Austin Open (with Phil Dalhausser) and the Denver Open (with Miles Evans) in 2022. Benesh-Partain won gold medals at the Gstaad Elite 16 event in July and were winners of the 2022 Dubai Challenge last October. The duo recently finished second at the Montreal Elite 16 event and is currently ranked seventh in the world.
As the top-seeded pair in the Atlanta field, Benesh and Partain dominated the final with a 21-13, 21-13 win over the fifth-seeded pair of Chase Budinger and Miles Evans. It was the second time the two teams met Atlantic Station sand. Benesh-Partain also defeated Budinger-Evans in their only three-set match of the weekend, 18-21, 21-18, 15-10, in the third round.
To reach the final, Benesh and Partain took down the second-seeded duo of Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb, 21-14, 22-20, in the semifinals. Benesh-Partain opened the weekend with a 21-14, 21-9 win over the 16th seed of Michael Groselle and Nathan Yang; and completed another straight-set win, 21-19, 21-13, against eight-seeded Evan Cory and Troy Field to advance through the second round.
The final nearly featured two Trojan alums. Tri Bourne (Honolulu, Hawai’i) and partner Chaim Schalk fell to Budinger-Evans in a three-set semifinal after battling back through the contender’s bracket.
On the women’s side, USC beach volleyball All-Americans Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes partnered to reach one semifinal. In the other semifinal, All-American Terese Cannon and partner Sarah Sponcil fell to women’s champions Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss.
The 12th-ranked USC men’s volleyball team concluded the 2023 season with a 10-16 overall record and went 3-9 in MPSF matches to finish in sixth place. USC faced Stanford in the opening round of the MPSF tournament but was eliminated by the Cardinal in four sets. In its history, the USC men’s volleyball program has captured four NCAA…
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