Andy Benesh, Miles Partain survive Morocco scare
There have been upsets throughout these Olympic Video games and there have been commanding victories. However there has not been something fairly as weird in Paris — even the opening ceremonies didn’t attain this stage of bizarre — as Andy Benesh and Miles Partain’s unexpectedly wild 21-12, 28-26 win Tuesday over Morocco’s Mohamed Abicha and Zouheir Elgraoui.
Nothing concerning the first 35 minutes of the match advised something out of the atypical. Benesh and Partain appeared pressing, centered, adjusting from an 21-18, 21-18 opening-match loss to Cuba’s Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz to regain the shape that has them because the second seed in Pool D and the ninth general.
Benesh and Partain, error-prone and blocked seven instances by Alayo on Saturday, didn’t hit a single error throughout their 21-12 opening-set victory over Morocco. By the technical timeout of the second set, there have been nonetheless zero American errors on the board, whereas Partain had kills on 12 of his 16 makes an attempt. All of it added as much as an 18-11 lead that appeared insurmountable.
After which, bizarrely, the model of Benesh and Partain that was so convincing throughout that opening set and established a seven-point second set lead disappeared, changed by the error-prone version from Saturday. Errors, errors of each the bodily and psychological selection compounded right into a 9-2 Morocco run, sending the set effectively into additional time till, in the end, Benesh put it to an finish with a block to seal the win, 25-23.
Till he didn’t.
Abicha, the 44-year-old defender competing in his second Olympic Video games, challenged the block. Kevin Wong, doing evaluation for NBC, laughed it off.
“I name this the problem from the grave,” he mentioned with a chuckle.
It appeared a problem out of frustration. Abicha was incensed earlier than the purpose, arguing that Benesh was lathering up the ball in sweat previous to his serve. So he challenged for a web fault on Benesh, for seemingly no different cause than as a result of he had one and he can’t roll it over into their subsequent match.
However then, unbelievably, the problem was profitable.
Even Wong and Chris Marlowe, doing play-by-play, couldn’t imagine it. The video confirmed the online transferring, sure, however, as Benesh would emphatically argue after, it was the ball that clipped the online on the best way down, not his arm. Benesh tried to problem the problem which, in fact, didn’t occur. On and on he argued — however on the match went, the group now fervently on the aspect of Morocco, the largest underdogs on the lads’s aspect of those Olympic Video games.
It may solely accomplish that a lot. Benesh and Partain terminated each first-ball in side-out, and At 27-26, a Morocco overset was put away by Benesh to complete off what won’t be essentially the most memorable match of those Olympics, however actually its most weird.
Cuba upsets Brazil’s George Wanderley, Andre Loyola
Probably the most notable results of Tuesday’s slate of Olympic seashore volleyball matches is Cuba’s Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz’s 21-13, 21-18 sweep over Brazil’s George Wanderley and Andre Loyola. The win, Cuba’s second after sweeping Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, places Diaz and Alayo within the driver’s seat of Pool D, with solely Morocco remaining.
Every little thing else has been fairly regular, with the entire favorites profitable. Germany’s Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, of their Olympic debut, swept France wild playing cards Remi Bassereau and Julien Lyneel, 21-15, 21-17, and it has been sweeps all the best way down on Tuesday. Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Michal Bryl beat Australia’s Thomas Hodges and Zach Schubert (21-16, 21-16), Italy’s Valentina Gottardi and Marta Menegatti took care of Egypt, and Brazil’s Barbara Seixas and Carol Salgado did the identical to Lithuania’s Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte.
Stefan Boermans, Yorick de Groot hand Chase Budinger, Miles Evans first loss
Chase Budinger and Miles Evans placed on an incredible displaying of their Olympic debut, a commanding 21-14, 21-11 victory over France. Such was not the case of their second match.
Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, the highest seed in Pool F, dismissed the People in convincing trend in a 21-13, 21-15 win, their second consecutive sweep of those Paris Olympic Video games.
Errors piled up for the USA, 16 in whole by the point the ultimate ball landed. In the meantime, the Netherlands performed a clear match that bordered on flawless, with simply 5 whole errors, three blocks, and three aces.
The loss drops Budinger and Evans to 1-1, although they’re nonetheless a heavy favourite to interrupt pool. Spain’s Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera had been equally swept by Boermans and de Groot and took all three units to beat Gauthier-Rat and Youssef Krou earlier on Tuesday. France, then, is 0-2, with the ultimate spherical of pool on August 2.
Budinger and Evans will break pool with a win over Spain on August 2, or a France loss. Ought to Budinger and Evans lose to Spain, and France beat the Netherlands, the tiebreak for third will come all the way down to a set-and-point differential.
All chalk the remainder of the best way on Tuesday at Eiffel Tower Stadium
Other than Cuba’s Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz upending Brazil’s George Wanderley and Andre Loyola, it was an upset-free Tuesday at Eiffel Tower Stadium.
Brazil’s Ana Patricia and Duda earned their second sweep of the Olympics, this one over Spain’s Lili Fernandez and Paula Soria (21-12, 21-13).
The Netherlands’ Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon additionally marched onto a 2-0 file with their second straight sweep, defeating Japan’s Miki Ishii and Akiko Hasegawa (21-16, 21-14).
