With Team USA grabbing gold after gold in the 2024 Olympic Games, one of Paris' standouts is serving up victories straight from the Westside of Los Angeles.
Pacific Palisades native and Palisades High School graduate Miles Partain has the distinction of being the youngest-ever member of Team USA’s Men’s Beach Volleyball unit, and the 22-year-old has already made a difference in Paris. Teaming with Rancho Palos Verdes native Andy Benesh, Partain secured his first Olympic victory Tuesday, defeating Morocco’s Mohammed Abicha and Zouheir Elgraoui in two sets.
Partain was a model student-athlete at Palisades High, named the Valedictorian for the school’s class of 2020 while being noted as a National AP Scholar and National Merit Scholar. For the Palisades indoor volleyball squad, he starred as a three-time California Interscholastic League All-City Division 1 Team member, part of back-to-back championship units.
One of the top recruits in the nation, Partain stayed local at UCLA, beginning as a reserve in 2021 before blowing up in 2022, earning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s Player of the Year and solidifying himself as an elite setter in the sport. He left the UCLA squad in order to pursue the Olympics, a decision that has paid off thus far.
Longtime partners Partain and Benesh entered the preliminary phase of Olympic competition on July 27, falling in two closely-contested sets to the Cuban duo of Noslen Diaz Amaro and Jorge Luis Alayo Moliner. Tuesday told a different story, one defined by both the Team USA victory and the blazing conditions Partain played in.
On a humid, 92-degree day, Partain and his partner took the first set 21-12 before persevering to take a grueling 28-26 second-set win. Near the end of the second set, Benesh’s would-be winning point was protested by the Moroccan opponents, turning the set from 25-23 to 24-24. Team USA took over in the deciding points for the win, as Partain was faced with the heated competition and the heat itself.
"It was a big factor, especially for blocking and if you’re getting served and getting a lot of jumps in," Partain told TeamUSA.com after the match. "The water breaks help, but it’s really hot."
While the California duo has turned heads, the other squad of Team USA has also brought considerable attention, that being the team of Miles Evans and Chase Budinger. The latter half of the duo has intrigued fans of his former sport, as Budinger was a seven-year veteran of the National Basketball Association, playing small forward in four different stops. Mainly in a reserve role for teams like the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves, Budinger’s career change to volleyball reminded many of Wilt Chamberlain’s famous sport-swap, with Budinger taking his talents all the way to the Paris stage.
Up next in Olympic competition for Partain and Benesh is a crucial Thursday preliminary match against Brazil, as Team USA is seeking its first Men’s medal in the sport since Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers in 2008. If unsuccessful, Partain may get a chance to compete a stone’s throw from home at the Santa Monica Pier in 2028.
thomas@smdp.com
