“We get another shot.” Budinger-Evans move into Olympic beach playoffs vs. Norway

Less than a week prior to leaving for the Paris Olympic Games, Chase Budinger was laughing about the way the beach volleyball scheduling can tend to go. Occasionally, you’ll see the same team, over and over and over again, to a comical degree — see: seven matchups against Evandro Goncalves and Arthur Mariano since April of 2023.

And, occasionally, you will only see certain teams in the hotels and restaurants at many of the stops on the Beach Pro Tour, but never on the court.

“We’ve never played Hodges and Schubert,” Budinger said with a laugh, referencing Australia’s No. 1 duo of Thomas Hodges and Zach Schubert.

Evidently he manifested just that, as Budinger and Miles Evans met Hodges and Schubert — the most common rival of Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb — in the final lucky loser round on Saturday evening in Paris.

And he manifested a win, too, one of the biggest of his career, a 21-19, 21-17 sweep that puts them into the round of 16, where all four USA pairs have now advanced.

“I really think that we just got back to what got us here,” Budinger said. “That’s option the ball, going for our serves, and siding out. That’s what our whole focus was, we were hyper-focused the whole match and that’s what allowed us to be more free.”

It was Budinger’s block who freed up the Americans. Down 17-18 in the first set, Budinger blocked Schubert twice in a row to give the USA a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. And it’s there where Budinger and Evans were perhaps aided by the fact they hadn’t yet played Hodges and Schubert.

Typically, it is Hodges, the former UCI standout, who is the subject of the majority of serves, receiving nearly double the amount of Schubert in 2024, though he is siding out four percent higher.

Yet Budinger and Evans weren’t stuck on the scouting report most other teams have bought into. They adjusted, keeping the pressure on Schubert, who was struggling to navigate the block of Budinger. When it was all said and done, Schubert had 16 kills and 13 errors — as many as Budinger and Evans combined — while Budinger piled up four blocks.

“They love to swing,” Budinger said. “I knew I had to be up there nice and early and I was able to get my hands on some.”

Budinger nearly doubled his total number of blocks for the tournament, which is nearly required in order to beat Australia, a team physical enough to virtually take the defender out of play. When Budinger was needed most, on the sport’s biggest stage, in…