PARIS, France — Miles Partain and Andy Benesh could not stop the slide and the United States is leaving beach volleyball at the Paris Olympics without a medal.
Their 21-14, 21-16 defeat to Qatar's Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan on Wednesday made it the first American medal shutout since the sport joined the Summer Games in Atlanta in 1996. They carried American hopes with both the women's teams and the other men's team out of the tournament.
They led 12-11 in the first set but some sloppy shot-making allowed the Qataris to pull away with the Eiffel Tower glowing next to them. Younousse and Tijan drew roars from the nighttime crowd with some of their improvised moves.
The Qatar pair have a chance to do better than in Tokyo three years ago, when their bronze was the first Olympic medal in beach volleyball for any Middle Eastern country.
Defending men's champions Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Sorum of Norway also impressed under the lights. They won 21-16, 21-17 against Spaniards Pablo Herrera Allepuz — a silver medalist at the 2004 Games — and Adrian Gavira Collado.
Mol showed some soccer skills his countryman Erling Haaland would have been proud of, rescuing a seemingly lost point with a smart flick of his right foot. The ball squirted up and Soerum won the point, then hugged Mol.
Their superior net play and anticipation meant they were rarely in danger and Norway clinched the first set when Mol pounced at the net for a smart block.
Soerum's spike at the net won the match as a breeze cooled fans down after some intense heat at the Paris Games. Mol celebrated with a spectacular backflip and Sorum didn't bother trying to match him, settling for a comedic-looking backward roll.
They face the German pair of Clemens Wickler and Nils Ehlers in Thursday's semifinals, while the Qataris play Swedish jump-set specialists David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig.
In the women's quarterfinals earlier Wednesday, top-ranked Brazilians Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa won 21-16, 21-10 against Anastasija Samoilova and Tina Graudina. But they had to claw back from 6-0 down as the Latvians threatened a major upset.
The Brazilians sank to their knees and then hugged each other after winning on the second match point when Samoilova’s serve hit the net.
“It was difficult to read their serve, there was a lot of variation,” Silva Ramos said through a translator. “But we recovered well.”
The Latvian pair was surprised by the early lead over the Brazilians.
“But obviously they are better than that as a team, and brought it back to their level," Graudina said.
Earlier, Canada's Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson reached the semifinals by beating Spain's Daniela Alvarez Mendoza and Tania Moreno Matveeva 21-18, 21-18 at Eiffel Tower Stadium.
Canada clinched a back-and-forth first set when Moreno Matveeva served long. After winning on their second match point, the Canadians dipped under the net and celebrated in front a handful of their flag-waving fans.
In Thursday's semis, the Brazilians face Australians Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy — silver medalists at the Tokyo Games three years ago — while the Canadians take on Switzerland's Nina Brunner and Tanja Hueberli.