Andy Benesh and Miles Partain survive fear of Morocco

There have been surprises at these Olympics, and there have been convincing victories. But nothing has been as bizarre in Paris — even the opening ceremonies haven’t reached this level of strangeness — as Andy Benesh and Miles Partain’s unexpectedly wild 21-12, 28-26 victory over Moroccans Mohamed Abicha and Zouheir Elgraoui on Tuesday.

Nothing in the first 35 minutes of the match suggested anything unusual. Benesh and Partain looked urgent, focused, and adjusted from a 21-18, 21-18 opening-game loss to Cubans Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz to regain the form that has them second in Pool D and ninth overall.

Benesh and Partain, prone to errors and blocked seven times by Alayo on Saturday, made no mistakes in their 21-12 opening-set win over Morocco. At the technical timeout of the second set, there were still no American errors on the board, while Partain had kills on 12 of his 16 attempts. It all added up to an 18-11 lead that seemed insurmountable.

And then, bizarrely, the version of Benesh and Partain that had been so convincing in that opening set and had built a seven-point lead in the second set, disappeared, replaced by Saturday’s error-prone edition. Mistakes, both physical and mental, led to a 9-2 run by Morocco that sent the set deep into overtime until Benesh finally ended it with a block to secure the win, 25-23.

Until it didn’t happen anymore.

Abicha, the 44-year-old defender who is playing in his second Olympics, challenged the block. Kevin Wong, who did analysis for NBC, laughed.

“I call this the challenge from the grave,” he said with a laugh.

It seemed like a challenge out of frustration. Abicha was furious about the point, claiming that Benesh had sweated the ball before his serve. So he challenged Benesh for a net foul, for seemingly no other reason than that he had one and he couldn’t carry it into their next match.

But incredibly, the challenge was successful.

Even Wong and Chris Marlowe, who were playing the game, couldn’t believe it. The video showed the net moving, yes, but as Benesh would emphatically argue afterward, it was the ball that hit the net on the way down, not his arm. Benesh tried to challenge the challenge, which of course didn’t happen. He kept on arguing — but the game went on, the crowd now fervently on the side of Morocco, the biggest underdog on the men’s side of this Olympics.

It couldn’t do much. Benesh and Partain finished every first ball in side-out, and at 27-26 a Moroccan overset was cleared by Benesh to complete what may not be the most memorable match of these Olympics, but certainly the most bizarre.

We’ll be updating this story gradually throughout the day, ending with the match between Miles Evans and Chase Budinger and the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot. Results from Tuesday’s Olympic beach volleyball action are below.