Men’s Volleyball | May 22, 2023
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – USC men’s volleyball alumnus Andy Benesh (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) and partner Miles Partain won the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) Pro Series Huntington Beach Open at the Huntington Beach Pier on Sunday, May 21.
Benesh also won titles in 2022 at the Austin Open with Phil Dalhausser and at the Denver Open with Miles Evans. Benesh and Partain were the fifth seed in the men’s field and took town the top-seeded tandem of USC alum Tri Bourne (Honolulu, Hawai’i) and partner Chaim Schalk in three sets, 20-22, 21-11, 15-12, in the championship match.
The duo defeated Seain Cook and Jake Dietrich in straight sets, 21-16, 21-16, to open the weekend and then moved into the third round with a second-round win over the fourth-seeded pair of Chase Budinger and Evans, 21-17, 21-19.
In the third round, Benesh-Partain ran into Bourne-Schalk for the first time and fought it out but took a three-set loss, 18-21, 21-17, 15-9. In the contender’s bracket, Benesh and Partain earned a 21-17, 21-16 win over Avery Drost and Dalhausser to move into the semifinals. There, the duo upended the second-seeded team of Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb in a three-set decision, 21-16, 14-21, 15-13, to get a rematch with Bourne and Schalk in the final.
On the women’s side, USC beach volleyball All-Americans Kelly Cheng (Fullerton, Calif.) and Sara Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.) won their fourth crown as a pair after going 5-0 in the stacked field. The duo defeated USC All-American Julia Scoles (Mooresville, N.C.) and her partner Sarah Sponcil in the final.
With Cheng-Hughes facing Scoles in the women’s final and Benesh pitted against Bourne in the men’s final, Trojans were guaranteed to capture both trophies at the Huntington Beach Open.
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 championships while appearing in 15 NCAA tournaments and has produced 21 Olympians, 34 first-team All-Americans, and seven College Players of the Year.
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