Miami Mayhem close perfect AVP League weekend in Long Beach

LONG BEACH — Sunday must have been filled with familiar sights, sounds and feelings for Miles Partain.

Though not all for the right reasons.

Andy Benesh, Partain’s partner from 2022 to 2026, walked away victorious, winning back-to-back matches over the weekend, while Partain was left with his hands on his head for the second match in a row.

Partain and his Dallas Dream partner, Paul Lotman, narrowly lost the first set 23-21, but the second was not as competitive, with Benesh and Taylor Crabb completing the sweep 15-10 for the Miami Mayhem (9-3) at Alamitos Beach to conclude Week 5 of the AVP League.

“We’re really good friends,” Benesh said. “It’s competitive, but like a fun competitive. I thought he played great today. … I’m just happy me and Taylor were able to pull out the first set, and then ultimately the win.”

Add in Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft’s Sunday contribution, a 15-12, 15-10 win over the Brooklyn Blaze (4-8), and the Mayhem went 4-0 over the two days of competition in Long Beach.

Unlike the men’s tandem, Cheng and Kraft needed all three sets to defeat the LA Launch women’s pair of Alaina Chacon and Maddie Anderson 16-14, 16-18, 15-12.

“They’re a newer team, so there was only maybe three matches to watch of them,” Cheng said of the pair of AVP League newcomers. “So there is a bit of focus on our side of the net because you don’t know too many of their tendencies.”

Sunday afternoon began with overcast skies at Alamitos Beach. By the time the Dallas Dream completed a 15-12, 15-10 women’s win over the Brooklyn Blaze in the second match of the day, it had begun to drizzle.

But the rain stopped and the clouds parted just before the Launch and Blaze’s men’s match, giving Hagen Smith, the Launch’s only player from Southern California, the appropriate blue sky and sunshine.

Smith and Partain did not overlap at UCLA, with Smith more than five years older, but both hail from Pacific Palisades.

Alongside partner Logan Webber, Smith put on a show for his local crowd, defeating the Blaze 13-15, 15-9, 15-13.

The back-and-forth match included some words, not just points, and those words were exchanged with officials, not just opponents. The Blaze’s Evan Cory earned a yellow card.

Cory’s partner, Derek Bradford, had a group of friends Saturday who cheered on the Blaze while jeering the team on the opposite side of the net. Both Cory and Bradford said the group helped them topple Partain and Lotman in three sets.

Sunday, the pack did not make its entrance until well into the match and was far less spirited than the day before, seated for most of the match and seemingly with far fewer insults to dish out.

“I think sometimes they feel the energy too,” Smith said. “Logan and I, we would respond to them sometimes and kind of bring them down a little bit. If you try to block them or get angry at them, that feeds them. So we were kind of budding, joking back and forth.”

Perhaps it was unsurprising the Blaze couldn’t pull out a win.

Smith put the match away with an ace. Then he turned to hype up the crowd and ripped off his shirt in celebration.

“Last year, when we qualified, we didn’t know what team we were going to be,” Smith said. “I was hopeful to be the LA Launch. … I never thought I would be on an LA sports team choosing the sport that I did, so it’s so cool.”

The AVP League travels to Central Park for Week 6, beginning July 18 and concluding July 19.