Paris 2024 Olympics: Team USA’s last remaining beach volleyball team, Miles Partain and Andrew Benesh, lose to Qatar

Miles Partain and Andrew Benesh’s Olympic run came to an end on Wednesday when the duo were eliminated by Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan in the quarterfinals of the men’s beach volleyball. Partain and Benesh lost in straight sets, with several unforced errors costing them a chance to advance.

The Qatari duo outscored the Americans in almost every way, getting more digs and stronger serves to take early leads in both sets. Younousse and Tijan also capitalized on the U.S.’s errors — Benesh had five service errors alone and the team had multiple attack errors — to take the 21-14, 21-16 victory.

Despite a few moments when it looked like Partain and Benesh would make a comeback, the Qataris held on to their lead, outscoring the Americans by 12 points.

Partain and Benesh were the last remaining American team in beach volleyball, after Chase Budinger and Miles Evans and Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth were both eliminated in the round of 16, and Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng were also eliminated in the quarterfinals.

The US, normally dominant in the sport, now has no teams on the field to compete for a medal. This is the first time since the sport was introduced to the Olympics in 1996 that the US has not won at least one medal in beach volleyball.

Younousse and Tijan get the chance to continue playing, possibly for gold. They will face Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig in the semi-final on Thursday.