Top seeds win beach volleyball titles at AVP Huntington Beach Open
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Andy Benesh was simply in the zone.
The Rancho Palos Verdes native had six blocks and four aces in the first set alone of Sunday’s AVP Huntington Beach Open men’s volleyball title match. He’s 6-foot-8, but the play seemed even bigger.
“It’s fun,” he said after the match. “I got into a little bit of a flow state. Sometimes the plays seem like they’re coming to you.”
Top-seeded Benesh and partner Miles Partain cruised through to their second title in Huntington Beach, taking a 21-14, 21-14 decision over fellow 2024 Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, the No. 2 seeds, on the north side of the Huntington Beach Pier.
The women’s final was closer, but also featured the top seeds earning the hardware. Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss got past No. 3-seeded Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft, 21-17, 21-23, 15-9.
Benesh and Partain, who advanced to the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics, had previously won Huntington Beach in 2023. That was their first AVP victory together as a team, and this year’s title represents their fourth as a team.
Both the men’s and women’s champions received trophies shaped like a surfboard.
“I love the patriotism of Huntington Beach,” said Partain, from Pacific Palisades, who has had to recover after his family home burned down in the Palisades fire in January. “American flags everywhere, I really love that about this place. It’s always good competing here.”
Benesh and Partain did not drop a set throughout the single-elimination tournament, earning a 21-14, 21-14 semifinal win over No. 12 Hagan Smith and Logan Webber.
Benesh said their new coach, Theo Brunner, has preached aggressive play, specifically on his serves. It paid off for him and Partain on Mother’s Day, and Benesh added that both of their moms were in attendance to watch the final.
“This surface plays to our advantage,” he said. “It’s a fast surface, and we like to play a fast game.”
Brasher and Nuss, meanwhile, won their eighth title together, their first in Huntington Beach. The 2024 Olympians took down No. 4-seeded Fullerton native Kelly Cheng and her partner Molly Shaw 21-15, 21-17, in the semifinals earlier Sunday.
They said they appreciated the vibes in the sold-out stadium court, as well as outside of it.
“We absolutely loved that people were building up the sand so that they could look over the fence, because there were no more tickets available,” Brasher said. “We think that’s amazing. There’s just so much support for beach volleyball here.”
They had three match points in the second set of the title match, but Cannon and Kraft were able to save each of them and force a third set.
In the decider, however, Brasher and Nuss would not be denied, beating Cannon and Craft for the seventh time in eight career meetings.
“Before every single set, Taryn always says, ‘It’s zeroes, it’s a new game,’” Nuss said. “Whatever just happened is in the past, and this is a brand new game. I think that’s how we go into every single set, regardless of who has momentum, just focusing on us and playing our game.”
Benesh and Partain, Brasher and Nuss and several other top teams in Huntington Beach will move on to the 2025 AVP League season, which kicks off in Palm Beach, Fla. on the weekend of May 23-24.
This is the second year for the eight-week AVP League, which returns to Southern California with a San Diego stop on June 6-7 and a Los Angeles stop on July 11-12.
“It’s short games to 15, so it makes every point that much more important,” Brasher said. “We’re excited to keep growing the game. Hopefully people keep tuning in and following along.”
The AVP’s other Southern California stop this year will be the Manhattan Beach Open, set for Aug. 15-17. That event is not a league stop but considered a heritage event, like Huntington Beach.
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