High-flying Andy Benesh, Miles Partain capture AVP Huntington Beach title

Chaim Schalk assaults towards Andy Benesh and Miles Partain/Allen Szto Photography

HUNTINGTON, Calif. – When the time arrived to enroll in their first AVP match collectively, Miles Partain and Andy Benesh jumped on the likelihood.

Or reasonably, they jump-set on the alternative.

Flashing one of many newest worldwide tendencies, Partain and Benesh used their difficult jump-set, faux hit, faux set and hit and a number of other different seashore volleyball permutations to capture the AVP Pro Series Huntington Beach Open on Sunday with a blinding show.

It was greater than sufficient to attain a 20-22, 21-11, 15-12 championship victory over top-seeded Chaim Schalk and Tri Bourne on the Huntington Beach Pier.

Andy Benesh, left, and Miles Partain/Rick Atwood photograph

It could also be onerous to imagine {that a} rookie staff can win on the tour, however these guys are actually batting 1.000.

“I can believe it because Miles is a very unique talent, we’ve been working very hard in the offseason,” the 6-foot-9 Benesh mentioned. “But he just brings a new style to the beach. It’s really difficult to deal with. I had to deal him last year and the year before and I know what it’s like.”

The 21-year-old Partain could make blockers look foolish along with his array of soar units. Benesh likes the system a lot, he’s entering into the act himself.

“It’s great,” mentioned Partain, featured right here this previous week. “He’s such a enjoyable participant to play with and our coach is superior so it’s an actual dream come true with the setting that was with us so it’s superior.

“Andy learned a bit. He was already pretty good at it. The jump-setting stuff, he could already do it but he never really tried a lot. He’s been able implement it in high-pressure moments, which is a testament to his ability.”

It’s an attacking system initiated by Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor within the run-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Now, it’s a pattern that has been taken into orbit by Swedish 21-year-olds David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig.

Partain and Benesh, who have already got received on the FIVB Volleyball World tour after they went undefeated to take the 2022 Dubai First Challenge, are able to take their present on the street once more after they resume their schedule in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in per week and a half.

After pushing Schalk and Bourne within the first set, Partain and Benesh modified their technique for the second, on protection and within the serving sport, and the highest seeds noticed errors start to creep in.

“I think I didn’t handle it as well as I could have personally,” Schalk mentioned. “Their short serves were pretty good. That’s how it goes sometimes; we didn’t play our best, we were still battling, though, and we gave ourselves a chance to win that match so I’m proud that. There’s more stuff to work on and we’ll get it back.”

Chaim Schalk sits down on the job within the males’s ultimate/Mark Rigney photograph

The fifth-seeded Partain and Benesh acquired off to a quick begin within the third set however Schalk and Bourne pulled to 10-9. They simply couldn’t catch them.

“It’s so rad to be up one point instead of down one point is the way I look at it,” Benesh mentioned. “These games are always close so it’s decision-making and execution that makes the difference.”

“The mentality is just one point at a time and trying to keep it within our team and keep the focus on the present point,” Partain added. “Especially as the match gets later and later.”

It was a rematch from Saturday’s third spherical, when Schalk and Bourne scored a three-set win after dropping the primary.

Partain and Benesh break up the $14,000 winner’s prize, with Schalk and Bourne sharing $8,500.

Schalk, a 2016 Rio Olympian from Canada with Ben Saxton, is now making an attempt to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics representing the USA with Bourne, who acquired a style of the Olympics within the 2021 Tokyo Games when he changed Taylor Crabb.

“It’s hard to adjust to, especially the Swedes, they’re jump-setting like crazy,” Schalk mentioned. “The system’s a special model, a bit of extra excessive threat. When we beat them yesterday, it seemed like they acquired into a bit of hassle with it.

“It’s a younger style, it’s a new system and it’s just something that we’re starting to figure out more and more. The more times we get to play them, the better for us because we can just figure it out.”

(Good timing by VBM: Click right here to learn the characteristic this previous week by Travis Mewhirter about Miles Partain).