AVP Huntington Beach Open: Andy Benesh, Taylor Crabb surge into semifinals

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Andy Benesh and Taylor Crabb were briefly back on opposite sides on Saturday afternoon at the Huntington Beach Open.

They couldn’t agree on who was the better beach volleyball player.

“He’s probably the No. 1 player in the U.S. right now,” Crabb said of Benesh after the second-seeded pair swept third-seeded Tijan Ahmed and Younousse Cherif of Qatar to reach the semifinals of the 16-team double-elimination tournament.

“I would disagree with what he said,” Benesh followed, directing his elbow at Crabb sitting next to him. “I think he’s the best player in the U.S.”

Benesh and Crabb are competing in their first Association of Volleyball Professionals event together after teaming up in the offseason. Their performance through the first two days alongside the Huntington Beach pier confirms what many anticipated when they announced their partnership earlier this year.

They look like the best men’s team in the U.S.

“We’re starting to put it together,” Benesh said. “That was a great win for us (against Ahmed and Cherif), especially early on in our partnership and, hopefully, we can keep building on it.”

Benesh, 31, spent 3½ years with Miles Partain, earning a spot on the 2024 Olympic team that competed in Paris.

Partain decided to dial back his international schedule this year; however, leaving Benesh searching for a new partner.

Crabb, 34, was the first person he approached and the former Long Beach State indoor star was quick to jump aboard.

“He’s just so fast, so dynamic, so athletic,” Benesh said of Crabb. “He’s also such a pure volleyball player. He has every shot in the book.”

Crabb shares nearly the same vision as Benesh, who played indoor volleyball at Palos Verdes High and USC.

“He does everything,” Crabb said. “Not just skill, but mentally, and comes up big in the clutch, which is always nice. You can always count on him to get a few blocks or aces at the end of the match.”

Benesh won’t get a chance to finish off his former partner on Sunday after fifth-seeded Partain and James Shaw were upset by 12th-seeded Derek Bradford (Royal High in Simi Valley) and Evan Cory, who went 3-0 in the loser’s bracket on Saturday and will face Benesh and Crabb in the second semifinal at 11:30 a.m.

Partain, 24, and Shaw, 32, went 2-0 on Friday, including a first-round sweep of Bradford and Cory, but lost to top-seeded Chase Budinger and Miles Evans in a tight three-set match earlier Saturday to fall into the consolation bracket.

Up against Ahmed and Cherif, the bronze medalists from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Benesh and Crabb scored the final three points of the opening set to win 21-18.

Benesh’s fourth block of the match gave his team an 18-13 lead in the second set, and his 10th kill finished the sweep, 21-18.

“We played great,” Crabb said. “It started with our service pressure and passing. With these conditions–shallow sand, good wind – it’s going to be a serve-and-pass battle.”

Ahmed and Cherif also came back through the loser’s bracket to reach the semifinals, where they will face Budinger and Evans at 10:30 a.m.

One of the new teams on the women’s side is also off to a strong start.

Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft won their third straight match of the weekend to advance to Sunday’s semifinals, where the second-seeded duo will face the third-ranked team in the world, third-seeded Thâmela Coradello and Victoria Lopes of Brazil at 9:30 a.m.

Cheng (El Dorado High, USC) and Kraft (USC) reached the semifinals by sweeping another team with USC connections, Ally Batenhorst and Sara Hughes, who were Cheng’s teammates at the 2024 Olympics.

Cheng and Kraft scored four straight points in the first set to grab a 14-9 lead before holding on for a 21-16 victory.

Cheng and Kraft scored four straight points again in the second set to move in front 9-6. Batenhorst and Hughes managed to come back and tie it at 12-12, but another four-point run put Cheng and Kraft back up 18-13 and they finished off the sweep with a 21-14 victory.

“One match at a time, but really excited about what we’ve built so far and it’s been a lot of fun,” Kraft said. “So excited about this partnership. She’s awesome, our coaches are awesome and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Cheng, 30, has been impressed with Kraft’s all-around game. The 23-year-old from San Diego had a match-leading 15 kills and 13 digs against Batenhorst and Hughes.

“I feed off all of her positive, never-give-up mentality,” Cheng said. “I have a lot of that too, but mine is more intense, hers is more happy, and I love it. I think it’s a really good combination.”

The top-seeded women’s team of Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz also went 3-0 over the first two days of the competition to reach the 8:30 a.m. semifinal, where they will play ninth-seeded Devon Newberry (Marymount High, UCLA) and Savannah Simo (UCLA), who went 3-0 in the consolation round on Saturday to make the final four.

Brasher and Cruz dropped Newberry and Simo into the consolation bracket with a three-set win in the second round on Friday.