MANHATTAN BEACH — Chase Budinger was a McDonald’s All-American boys’ basketball player at La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad, started all 30 games his freshman season at the University of Arizona and went on to play seven seasons in the NBA.
He switched to beach volleyball in 2017 and became good enough to represent the U.S. at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
There’s still something missing from his resume, however.
A plaque on the Manhattan Beach pier.
Budinger, 37, took a couple steps closer to winning his first Manhattan Beach Open on Saturday by winning both his matches with partner Miles Evans just south of the pier.
The victories put Budinger and Evans in the final four of the prestigious event, where they’ll face third-seeded James Shaw and Chaim Schalk in the first semifinal at 10:30 a.m.
“It would be great,” Budinger said of winning a Manhattan Beach Open title. “I’ve been so close so many times. It’s always tough to get your name on the pier because everyone wants it so bad, but it’s definitely been a goal of mine since I switched to volleyball.”
Budinger reached the final in 2019 with partner Casey Patterson, but they lost to Trevor Crabb and Reid Priddy. Budinger and Patterson returned to the finals in 2021, but fell to Crabb and Tri Bourne.
As the top seed in this year’s tournament, Budinger and Evans didn’t drop a set through their first three matches, but then never led in their opening-set loss to fourth-seeded Crabb and Phil Dalhausser on Saturday.
Budinger and Evans were trailing 6-4 in the second set when they changed up their strategy and began serving the 45-year-old Dalhausser. Budinger and Evans scored three straight points to take their first lead of the match and they never trailed again.
“We got a couple points on Phil, and we noticed that he was vulnerable, or at least not playing his best right now, so we capitalized on that,” Evans said. “Then we switched it back to (serving) Trevor in the third set and I think we surprised them.”
Budinger and Evans ended up winning the second set 21-14 and took a quick 4-1 lead in the third set before scoring the final three points in the 15-9 victory.
Dalhausser, who’s playing in his final Manhattan Beach Open after winning the event seven previous times, had five service errors during the match, the final one kick-starting the match-ending 3-0 run by Budinger and Evans.
“I think this was the first time playing against him where he actually gave you a few points, and that’s not normal for him,” Budinger said of Dalhausser, whose left shin was heavily taped. “I bet he’s going to bounce back and maybe (we’ll) see them (on Sunday).”
Sure enough, Dalhausser and Crabb rebounded in the loser’s bracket semifinal on Saturday afternoon and toppled 10th-seeded Nick Lucena and Bourne, who was also playing in his final Manhattan Beach Open after winning it in 2021 and 22.
Crabb will face off against his younger brother, Taylor, in the 11:30 a.m. semifinal, guaranteeing at least one of the Long Beach State alums will make the Manhattan Beach Open final for an eighth straight time.
Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander swept their first two matches on Friday before needing three sets to knock off Lucena and Bourne on Saturday. They then reached the semifinal with a two-set win against Shaw and Schalk, who came back through the loser’s bracket with a win against seventh-seeded Avery Drost and Wyatt Harrison.
There will be no lack of motivation for Evans either. The 34-year-old from Santa Barbara has been on the AVP Tour since 2014 and played in the Olympics with Budinger, but has yet to reach a Manhattan Beach Open final in his career.
“It would mean everything to put my name on that pier and be respected amongst some of the greats,” he said.
The men’s championship match is scheduled for 2 p.m.
In the women’s competition, the top-seeded pair of Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss will try to become the first women’s team to defend their Manhattan Beach title since Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar in 2017.
The LSU grads dropped their first set of the tournament, but have since won eight straight.
They’ll face 19th-seeded Kennedy Ann Coakley and Ashley Pater in the first semifinal at 8:30 a.m.
Coakley, who was a freshman on USC’s beach volleyball team last spring, and Pater, who was a sophomore for the Trojans, narrowly lost to third-seeded Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw in the second round on Friday.
They bounced back to win four in a row in the loser’s bracket before sweeping Cheng and Shaw in the rematch on Saturday, their fourth match of the day.
The second women’s semifinal at 9:30 a.m. will feature second-seeded Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon against fifth-seeded Teegan Van Gunst and Corinne Quiggle.
The women’s championship match is scheduled for 1 p.m.