Miles Partain in action during an AVP event.
Photo by: AVP / Mpu Dinani
Miles Partain Named to U.S. Olympic Beach Team
June 10, 2024 | Men's Volleyball
Miles Partain, who was a member of the UCLA men's (indoor) volleyball team for three seasons (2021-23), was named on Monday to Team USA for Beach Volleyball and will participate in the upcoming Paris Olympic Games this summer. At age 22, he will be the youngest U.S. beach player in Olympic history.
The 2022 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year left the Bruin men's volleyball team early in the 2023 season to turn his focus over to competing for a spot on the Olympic Beach Volleyball team. Beach volleyball at the 2024 Olympic Games will be held at Eiffel Tower Stadium, a temporary outdoor arena at the base of the Eiffel Tower. The men's competition schedule will run from July 27 through August 10. Team USA has won three Olympic golds and one silver medal in men's beach volleyball in its history. Bruins Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
Indoors, Partain was a 2022 first-team All-America selection and one of three finalists for the Lloy Ball Award as the nation's top setter. He directed the Bruin offense to the nation's top hitting percentage that season at .374. On the beach, he was named 2019 AVP Rookie of the Year and 2019 All-Pro Beach Volleyball Rookie of the Year by Volleyballmag.com. In 2021, he was chosen as the AVP's Best Defensive Player and earned honorable mention honors from volleyballmag.com as the AVP's Breakthrough Player of the Year. He won his first AVP Championship at the 2022 Atlanta Open. Volleyballmag.com named him the 2022 AVP Most Valuable Player and Best Defensive Player. The publication also selected Partain as an honorable mention choice for their Best Offensive Player on the tour.
The 2022 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year left the Bruin men's volleyball team early in the 2023 season to turn his focus over to competing for a spot on the Olympic Beach Volleyball team. Beach volleyball at the 2024 Olympic Games will be held at Eiffel Tower Stadium, a temporary outdoor arena at the base of the Eiffel Tower. The men's competition schedule will run from July 27 through August 10. Team USA has won three Olympic golds and one silver medal in men's beach volleyball in its history. Bruins Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
Indoors, Partain was a 2022 first-team All-America selection and one of three finalists for the Lloy Ball Award as the nation's top setter. He directed the Bruin offense to the nation's top hitting percentage that season at .374. On the beach, he was named 2019 AVP Rookie of the Year and 2019 All-Pro Beach Volleyball Rookie of the Year by Volleyballmag.com. In 2021, he was chosen as the AVP's Best Defensive Player and earned honorable mention honors from volleyballmag.com as the AVP's Breakthrough Player of the Year. He won his first AVP Championship at the 2022 Atlanta Open. Volleyballmag.com named him the 2022 AVP Most Valuable Player and Best Defensive Player. The publication also selected Partain as an honorable mention choice for their Best Offensive Player on the tour.
Partain and his partner Andy Benesh earned an Olympic berth by finishing among the top 17 of the FIVB Olympic Rankings within the qualification period, which ran January 1, 2023, to June 9, 2024. Benesh/Partain tied for fourth in the men's rankings.