In the Olympic debut for Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, the U.S. duo steamrolled the French team of Youssef Krou and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, in straight sets. The U.S. dominated, 21-14, 21-11, to win its opening match of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament.
Budinger and Evans trounced their French competition in the first set, jumping out to a 10-4 lead in the Paris sun. Krou and Gauthier-Rat pulled to within five at 18-13, but the U.S. squad proved far too strong. Budinger and Evans flashed supreme chemistry and efficiency and held on for a first-set victory, 21-14. In that set, Evans posted 8 attack points and 6 successful digs to power the pair.
In the second set, the French looked much sharper to start, remaining within two points early on. But Budinger and Evans unleashed a 4-0 run to pull back ahead, 12-6. From there, momentum stuck with the Americans, and Budinger turned up his defense with a slew of blocks down the home stretch. Faced with match point, Budinger racked up his fourth block, showing off his 6-foot-7 frame and NBA-level hops, to seal a 21-11 win in the second set and a clean sweep victory.
Budinger, 36, is an Olympian for the first time after playing seven seasons and over 400 games in the NBA. Budinger is now the first athlete to have compete in both an NBA regular season game and an Olympic beach volleyball game. He and Evans are aiming to become the first U.S. men’s beach volleyball team to win a medal since the 2008 Beijing Games.
Even before his NBA career, Budinger's volleyball star blossomed. A former National Volleyball Player of the Year at California's La Costa Canyon High School, the athletic beast was once offered scholarships to play both basketball and volleyball at USC and UCLA before settling on basketball at Arizona instead.
After scoring over 3,000 points in the NBA, Budinger made his move back to volleyball — and to the beach.
"Just the hard work and dedication we've had over the last few years to finally be representing the USA at the Olympics is going to be just an unreal feeling," Budinger told Erin Maher of NBC Olympics in June. "And I'm just really excited about it."
Budinger and Evans return to the beach on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. ET against Dutch duo Stefan Boermans and Yorick De Groot.