Former Wildcat, Sun Chase Budinger drops to 1-1 in volleyball at Olympics

The crazy story of former Arizona Wildcat, first-round NBA Draft pick and Phoenix Sun Chase Budinger becoming a Team USA Olympic beach volleyball star was going to come with some bumps in the road and the first came on Tuesday with a loss to the Netherlands.

Budinger and his teammate Miles Evans lost 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) to Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, dropping the duo’s record to 1-1 in pool play.

The Americans will play their final match of pool play on Friday against Spain’s Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera. In Group F, that Netherlands pair is 2-0 while Spain and Team USA each sport a 1-1 record. The top two teams in each group automatically advance, a crucial fate to seal. While the top two third-place teams also move on to the bracket and the rest of the third-place group finishers have a chance to as well, the winner on Friday won’t have to stress about that.

From there, the competition is a single-elimination bracket of 16 teams. That would be a big accomplishment for Budinger and Evans, who were among the biggest underdogs to win the tournament out of the field of 24.

Friday’s match is at 6 a.m. MST and can be streamed on Peacock.

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