Santa Barbara’s Miles Evans and partner Chase Budinger are headed to the Round of 16 in the Paris Olympics beach volleyball competition.
Evans/Budinger claimed a straight-sets victory (21-19, 21-17) over Australia’s Zachery Schubert/Thomas Hodges in a “lucky loser” match on Saturday night to advance to the knockout round at the Eiffel Tower Stadium.
The teams were each third-place finishers in their respective groups.
Evans/Budinger join U.S. teammates Miles Partain/Andy Benesh in the Round of 16.
BOOM!
Miles Evans and Chase Budinger are on to the Round of 16! They won their Lucky Loser match, 21-19, 21-17 over Hodges/Schubert 🇦🇺
All 4 U.S. teams have advanced! @TeamUSA @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/btJ7mZvj0k
— USA Volleyball (@usavolleyball) August 3, 2024
The blocking of Budinger, a former NBA player, helped the Americans pull through down the stretch in the first set. He blocked Schubert twice in a row to give the U.S. a 19-17 lead. Evans delivered the set-winning goal, which fired up the crowd and set the tone for the second set.
The Americans went on 4-0 run in the second set to take a 13-10 lead, which was too much for Australia to overcome.
“We got another shot,” Evans told NBC after the match. “Couldn’t be more excited about it.”
Evans played indoor volleyball at Dos Pueblos High, SBCC and UC Santa Barbara and fell in love with the beach game at East Beach. He is the fourth homegrown player to play beach volleyball in the Olympics, joining Karch Kiraly, Dax Holdren and Todd Rogers.
Evans/Budinger will play Norway’s Christian Sorum/Anders Mol on Monday at 5 a.m. PT. Sorum/Mol are the defending Olympic champions and the No. 2-ranked team in the world.
Also on Monday, Miles Partain/Andy Benesh take on Italy’s Samuele Cottafava/Paolo Nicolai at 8 a.m.
