Andy Benesh, Miles Partain “found our mojo again” in crucial win

It didn’t take long to see a clear shift from Andy Benesh and Miles Partain.

After a sluggish start to these Olympic Games — a listless sweep at the hands of Cuba and a bizarrely close match against Morocco — they opened Thursday afternoon’s match against George Wanderley and Andre Loyola as a new-look team.

Or, more accurately, a throwback to the version of themselves that took the Beach Pro Tour by storm at this time last summer.

The on-two game, the jump-sets, the very foundation of their team that has been quiet in 2024 was back — all the way back. Partain took options from 15 feet off the net. From the right. From the left. From slide approaches. Fading away. Out of bounds. In bounds.

Everywhere.

Some of these appeared ill-advised to outside viewers, and most notably to NBC lead commentator Chris Marlowe, who was downright aghast at several. But this was the style that, at the beginning of this Olympic run, Benesh and Partain agreed to live by and die by.

This was what got them to Paris.

For a spell, they went away from it.

It didn’t work — not with the results they wanted, anyway. Five ninths, three fifths and just a single bronze since their silver medal at the Montreal Elite16 last July.

They came out against George and Andre in need of a spark, and they went within to find it. They jump-set. They optioned. They jump-served. They were aggressive.

It worked, to the tune of a 21-17, 14-21, 15-8 win that puts them second in Pool D and will have them beginning the playoffs in the round of 16.

“We found our mojo again,” Benesh said. “[The options] will be back. It’ll be back for eternity. We’re super happy with the style we played with today and we’re going to continue that.”

Midway through the first set, Dain Blanton, on-court for NBC, dropped a bombshell of a potential explanation why the sudden shift: Benesh and Partain’s coach, Mike Placek, wasn’t at the pre-game chat Blanton has with teams prior to matches.

They were moving forward, they told Blanton.

In the middle of the Olympics?

In the middle of the Olympics.

“We’re just focused on our next matches,” Benesh said when asked about it afterwards.

Whatever it is that happened — or did not happen — in the Benesh and Partain camp, it ultimately produced a team that returned to its roots as one that pushed the envelope of offensive possibilities in beach volleyball.

For USA fans, it is a welcome…