Sports
Partain Is King on the Beach
Photo: USA Volleyball
Showing why he is one of the best beach volleyball players on the planet, Palisades High graduate Miles Partain teamed with Andy Benesh to win the AVP Huntington Beach Open on May 11. The duo beat fellow 2024 Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans 21-14, 21-14 in the finals and did not drop a set in four tournament matches. It was their second Huntington Beach title together (they also won it two years ago, their first AVP title as a team).
Partain and Benesh were second in the group stage at the Summer Games in Pari, then upset the Italian duo of Samuele Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai in the round of 16. They fell to Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan of Qatar in the quarterfinals but took fifth place.
At age 22, Partain became the youngest USA beach volleyball player in Olympic history. He won three City titles at Palisades, was valedictorian in 2020 and played for Pac6 Volleyball Club. In 2017, he and his older brother Marcus became the youngest duo to make the main draw of an AVP event.