It didn’t take lengthy to see a transparent shift from Andy Benesh and Miles Partain.
After a sluggish begin to these Olympic Video games — a listless sweep by the hands of Cuba and a bizarrely shut match towards Morocco — they opened Thursday afternoon’s match towards George Wanderley and Andre Loyola as a new-look workforce.
Or, extra precisely, a throwback to the model of themselves that took the Seashore Professional Tour by storm presently final summer season.
The on-two sport, the jump-sets, the very basis of their workforce that has been quiet in 2024 was again — all the best way again. Partain took choices from 15 ft off the online. From the proper. From the left. From slide approaches. Fading away. Out of bounds. In bounds.
In every single place.
A few of these appeared ill-advised to exterior viewers, and most notably to NBC lead commentator Chris Marlowe, who was downright aghast at a number of. However this was the model that, firstly of this Olympic run, Benesh and Partain agreed to dwell by and die by.
This was what bought them to Paris.
For a spell, they went away from it.
It didn’t work — not with the outcomes they needed, anyway. 5 ninths, three fifths and only a single bronze since their silver medal on the Montreal Elite16 final July.
They got here out towards George and Andre in want of a spark, and so they went inside to search out it. They jump-set. They optioned. They jump-served. They have been aggressive.
It labored, to the tune of a 21-17, 14-21, 15-8 win that places them second in Pool D and may have them starting the playoffs within the spherical of 16.
“We discovered our mojo once more,” Benesh stated. “[The options] will probably be again. It’ll be again for eternity. We’re tremendous proud of the model we performed with immediately and we’re going to proceed that.”
Halfway by means of the primary set, Dain Blanton, on-court for NBC, dropped a bombshell of a possible reason the sudden shift: Benesh and Partain’s coach, Mike Placek, wasn’t on the pre-game chat Blanton has with groups previous to matches.
They have been transferring ahead, they instructed Blanton.
In the midst of the Olympics?
In the midst of the Olympics.
“We’re simply centered on our subsequent matches,” Benesh stated when requested about it afterwards.
No matter it’s that occurred — or didn’t occur — within the Benesh and Partain camp, it in the end produced a workforce that returned to its roots as one which pushed the envelope of offensive potentialities in seashore volleyball.
For USA followers, it’s a welcome sight.
The return to the high-octane, high-risk, on-two model is precisely what catapulted Benesh and Partain into the top-five of the world rankings for a lot of final summer season. It’s the very basis of their workforce. It’s their character, their spunk.
Their superpower.
“I feel that’s the explanation why we’re the place we’re at,” Benesh stated previous to their first event this season. “These blockers are nasty. It’s fairly powerful once they’re sitting on you. Groups will serve you in system on objective so the blocker can line up. Having Miles push me by means of the place I’m pondering I ought to go away from it, that Miles is siding out nice. It’s humorous, we’ll be on the courtroom and Miles will say ‘I need you to hit it!’ and I’m like ‘No I need you to hit it!’ It’s fairly humorous.”
So when Marlowe and Misty Could-Treanor have been borderline appalled on the areas from which Partain was hitting choices, the response ought to have been the alternative: They need to have been inspired, a lot the best way Golden State Warriors followers must be inspired when Steph Curry is pulling up from effectively past the arc. One doesn’t put a leash on Curry, the best shooter within the historical past of basketball.
The identical might be stated for Partain, one of many two best choice gamers on this planet, alongside Sweden’s David Ahman.
It’s why he’s the youngest participant to qualify for an AVP, why he gained AVP Rookie of the 12 months as a teen. He’s an innovator, pushing the edges of what’s attainable, a lot much less really helpful by traditionalists. And now he and Benesh are again.
How again? The set they’re most pleased with throughout these Olympic Video games is the second towards George and Andre — the one they misplaced, 14-21.
“I used to be proud of how we performed,” Partain stated, earlier than including, “particularly in that second set.”
You can virtually hear the wink and sly smile on the 22-year-old’s face when he stated it.
“I believed Miles was tremendous aggressive and handed tremendous effectively and I used to be tremendous aggressive and that’s the model that we need to play with and we’re going to proceed doing that,” Benesh stated. “Whether or not we win or lose, we have been tremendous proud of how we performed the second set. Regardless that the rating didn’t go effectively for us, we performed that approach the entire match and we’re actually proud.”
Thursday’s Olympic Seashore Volleyball outcomes
9 a.m. — Ehlers/Wickler (Germany) def. Hodges/Schubert (Australia) 16-21, 21-18, 19-17
10 a.m. — Cherif/Ahmed (Qatar) def. Nicolaidis/Carracher (Australia) 21-14, 21-18
11 a.m. — Liliana/Paula (Spain) def. Marwa/Elghobashy (Egypt) 21-18, 21-14
Midday — Diaz/Alayo (Cuba) def. Abicha/Elgraoui (Morocco) 21-14, 21-11
3 p.m. — Partain/Benesh (USA) def. George/Andre (Brazil) 21-17, 14-21, 15-8
4 p.m. — Mariafe/Clancy (Australia) vs. Bansley/Bukovec Canada)
5 p.m. — Ahman/Hellvig (Sweden) vs. Cottafava/Nicolai (Italy)
8 p.m. — Ana Patricia/Duda (Brazil) vs. Gottardi/Menegatti (Italy)
9 p.m. — Bryl/Losiak (Poland) vs. Bassereau/Lyneel (France)
10 p.m. — Kloth/Nuss (USA) vs. Xue/Xia (China)
Friday’s Olympics seashore volleyball schedule
All instances are native. Paris is 6 hours forward of U.S. Jap and 9 hours forward of Pacific:
9 a.m. — Paulikiene/Raupelyte vs. Akiko/Ishii
10 a.m. — Ranghieri/Carambula vs. Grimalt/Grimalt
11 a.m. — Horl/Horst vs. Schachter/Dearing
Midday — Viera/Chamereau vs. Hermannova/Stochlova
3 p.m. — Herrera/Gavira vs. Evans/Budinger
4 p.m. — Krou/Gauthier-Rat vs. Boermans/de Groot
5 p.m. — Carol/Barbara vs. Stam/Schoon
8 p.m. — Mol/Sorum vs. Van de Velde/Immers
9 p.m. — Perusic/Schweiner vs. Evandro/Arthur
10 p.m. — Hughes-Cheng vs. Muller-Tillmann
