Just last week on SANDCAST, Taylor Crabb hinted at a potential complete and total overhaul of the men’s USA partnerships.

“My prediction,” he said alongside Tri Bourne and his brother, Trevor Crabb, “and I don’t know, I haven’t talked to anyone, but every time right now will be different. That’s just my prediction but I have no idea.”

There is, now, a better idea, as Taylor Crabb himself was the first to make a major move: He is partnering with Andy Benesh for the 2026 beach volleyball season.

He actually hinted as much about the potential pairing on the podcast, saying that “on paper, me and Andy are the better volleyball team than me and Trevor [with whom he played three events in 2025, resulting in a pair of top-five finishes in Elites and a NORCECA win] but the story behind it if we do make a run and qualify…it would be epic.”

For now, Taylor is going with the on-paper match that makes sense in every possible way. Here is the best blocker in America, a 6-foot-9 veteran in Benesh who owns a fifth at the Olympic Games and boasts a resume that includes medals in all but one major event — gold in Gstaad, silver in Montreal, bronze in Ostrava. Only Hamburg is missing. Behind him is the best defensive player in the United States in Crabb who has mostly taken off from the Beach Pro Tour these last few years, playing, on average, just four events per year the last four years, but who now has points and an apparent hunger to get back on Tour. It’s hard to imagine a more fitting pairing.

Miles Partain now the major question remaining

It does, of course, leave many questions: Where else will the dominoes fall?

Miles Partain is now in control of the rest of the market. The obvious pairing is to put Partain with James Shaw, a 6-foot-8 31-year-old who would fit seamlessly into Partain’s jump-setting, option-heavy style of play. Whether Shaw would leave Chaim Schalk, with whom he enjoyed some success in 2025, or if Partain wants to make the move, would be the question.

Taylor Crabb and Benesh are also playing in the AVP together, which puts Taylor Sander on the market for a domestic partnership.

With a Crabb-Crabb 2026 season ruled out — but, it should be noted, a run at the 2028 Olympic Games is not, as there could be another shift in 2027 — this also puts Trevor Crabb as a viable free agent. Trevor has points, a proven track record as a defender, blocker, split-blocker, and right and left side, and an uncanny ability to just win. The major limiting factor on Trevor Crabb is that he’s playing the AVP League with Phil Dalhausser, which means any partnership he has will be a hybrid one that will split time between Dalhausser and whomever he chooses to play internationally.