Budinger-Evans take ninth as Norway rolls on

They were underdogs going into the Paris Olympic Games and they knew it.

Chase Budinger and Miles Evans embraced that role. What did they have to lose in an Olympic Games only one percent of voters thought they’d make in the first place?

“We’re the underdogs,” Budinger said prior to the Olympics. “We were perceived as the fifth American team to start the season.”

Now they are the first Americans out, settling for ninth after a 16-21, 14-21 defeat at the hands of Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum.

There is no shame in that loss, or the finish as a whole. Norway has flipped the script in Paris. Coming in, the hype was justifiably all on Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig, the hottest team in beach volleyball who have made the quarterfinals after a three-set win over Cuba but have been shaky at best. Meanwhile, Norway, the defending Olympic gold medalists, the pair who has put itself in the discussion as one of the greatest of all-time, hasn’t dropped a set and really hasn’t come particularly close. Only one team, Steven van de Velde and Matthew Immers — since eliminated, by Brazil’s Evandro and Arthur — has brought a set to within two points.

The rest? An average of 14.7.

It is a form the world hasn’t seen from Norway since the Montreal Elite16 a little more than a year ago, when they won gold and lost only a single set.

“They will probably go down as one of the best teams to ever play together,” Budinger said. “They’ve been on top of the beach volleyball circuit for the last eight years. We knew coming into the game it was going to be a really tough match. We knew we had to execute our system and play a really consistent game, which obviously they do a good job of not allowing to happen.

“They’ve been playing really great the last few tournaments. They are definitely peaking right now.”

When Mol and Sorum are playing at this level, there are select few teams in the world who can extend a match with them, much less win.

Budinger and Evans weren’t the ones to do so on Monday afternoon in Paris.

That in spite of the USA turning in a legitimately respectable performance, no matter what the score may suggest. It’s just that respectable doesn’t beat Norway.

Barely anyone beats Norway.

They were, as they often are, better in every category.

Budinger was excellent at the net, blocking four balls on Monday. It is a tremendous number, higher than the…