“Job’s not done” for Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, but a big step taken at Espinho Elite16

There aren’t many beach volleyball players in the world who can quote Kobe Bryant and get it away with it. There is, in fact, just one.

Chase Budinger.

Budinger is the only player on the beach who ever played in an NBA game, much less had Bryant tap him on the butt during his rookie season and tell him “Welcome to the League” — and then throw an elbow into Budinger’s chest, knock down a fadeaway jumper, and repeat the statement with a wink on the other end of the court. So when Budinger was asked about the meaning of making it through another brutal qualifier on Wednesday at the Espinho Elite16, and he said “Job’s not done,” paraphrasing a quote made famous by Bryant when he and the Lakers were up 2-0 in the 2009 NBA Finals, he is the one person on the sand who can reasonably say it.

“Another opportunity to play against the best and improve points,” Budinger said. “Like I say every day, ‘Job’s not done.’ ”

But, as it was with Bryant in 2009, it was certainly made easier on Wednesday. Budinger and Miles Evans are currently in the midst of the tightest men’s Olympic race, leading Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner by 140 points — the exact total either team gain with a ninth place finish in Espinho. Only, Crabb and Brunner won’t get that chance. They fell in the first round of Wednesday’s qualifier to Norwegians Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen (18-21, 13-21) who would go on to qualify with a three-set win over Leon Luini and Christiaan Varenhorst.

Budinger and Evans, meanwhile, who earned the top seed with the entry points boost kudos of their win at last week’s NORCECA Continental Finals, swept Portuguese wild cards Goncalo Sousa and Tomas Sousa (21-14, 21-15) and rallied to beat Argentina’s Capogrosso brothers, Tomas and Nico (19-21, 21-18, 15-12).

The wins advanced Budinger and Evans into the main draw and into an all-Portuguese-speaking Pool D, joining Brazilians George Wanderley and Andre Loyola, Evandro Goncalves and Arthur Mariano, and Portuguese wild cards Joao Pedrosa and Hugo Campos. The only other American men in the main draw are Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, who are joined in Pool A by Sweden’s Jonatan Hellvig and David Ahman, the Netherlands’ Steven van de Velde and Matthew Immers, and Mol and Berntsen.

To tack onto their lead in the Olympic race, Budinger and Evans will need at least a ninth.

“It’s time to play free and enjoy the opportunity that we have,” Budinger said. “That’s what we gave ourselves making it out of the qualifier.”

Cheng-Hughes, TKN on quick turnaround from AVP Huntington Beach

While all of the American men skipped last week’s season-opening AVP in Huntington Beach to prep for Espinho, the American women did just the opposite. Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth and Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes both played on Sunday — finishing second and third, respectively — and both hopped on flights Monday morning. On short prep time in Espinho, one of the deepest and windiest venues on Tour, they open pool play early on Thursday.

Cheng and Hughes begin at midnight Pacific time against Germany’s Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Muller, while Nuss and Kloth follow four hours later against Brazilian qualifiers Taina Silva and Victoria Lopes.

Two other USA teams failed to get out of the qualifier: Kim Hildreth and Teegan Van Gunst, and Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft.

Canadians Sarah Pavan and Molly McBain and Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec lost out, as well. Bansley and Bukovec lost in three to Swiss Olympians Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Mader, who would go on to qualify with a huge win over Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Bobner.

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