Beach Update: Budinger/Evans Secure Silver in Saquarema

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 17, 2023) – The U.S. beach team of Chase Budinger/Miles Evans fought through the qualifier, battled to the final and took the silver medal at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Challenge on Sunday in Brazil.

Seeded 17^th in the main draw, Budinger/Evans took the top-seeded Brazilian team of Evandro Gonçalves/Arthur Lanci to three sets in the final before losing 2-1 (18-21, 21-12, 15-13). Budinger/Evans finished the tournament 7-1.

They won their semifinal match over Austrians Julian Hörl and Alexander Horst 2-1 (19-21, 22-20, 15-11).

Saquarema was Budinger/Evans’ second international match since they joined forces at the start of the season. They finished 25^th at the Itapema Challenge on April 6-9 in Brazil. In March, they finished second at the AVP Open in Miami.

The U.S. team of Andy Benesh/Miles Partain placed fourth after advancing from the qualifier. In the semifinals, they fell to Evandro/Arthur 2-0 (21-16, 21-17). In the third-place match they battled Austrians Julian Hörl and Alexander Horst before falling 2-1 (14-21, 21-15, 15-10).

Among other U.S. beach teams, Trevor Crabb/Theo Brunner tied for 5^th on the men’s side. Kelley Kolinske/Hailey Harward tied for 9^th among the women.

Taylor Crabb/Taylor Sander tied for 25^th among the men and Corinne Quiggle/Sarah Schermerhorn tied for 25^th among the women.

Full results are available on the Volleyball World website.

AVP NEW ORLEANS

Top-seeded Kelly Cheng/Sara Hughes won the women’s title and top-seeds Tri Bourne/Chaim Schalk won the men’s at the AVP event in New Orleans.

Cheng/Hughes beat Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes/ Brandie Wilkerson in the final 2-0 (21-9, 21-18). Bourn/Schalk beat the U.S. team of Billy Allen/Troy Field 2-1 (25-27, 21-12, 25-10).

Full results are available on the AVP website.

COMING UP

The U.S. team of Ben Vaught/David McKienzie are schedule to compete at the Pro Tour Futures event on April 20-23 in Satun, Thailand. The pair previously finished third at the Futures event in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand.

The women’s teams of Geena Urango/Carly Skjodt and Katie Lindstrom/Teegan Van Gunst and the men’s teams of Cody Caldwell/Chase Frishman and Alex Diaz/Brandon Joyner are scheduled to compete in the NORCECA Beach Tour event on April 21-23 in Aguascalientes, Mexico.