Spectating isn't easy for Jessica McAlvany's family this weekend in Atlanta.

McAlvany, 18, and her three sisters all are playing in the Big South Qualifier club volleyball tournament. Normally, their parents would bounce between matches in the Georgia World Congress Center.

But this year, the tornado punched holes in the center a week before the first jump serve was to fly over a net, forcing event organizers to relocate to seven venues stretching from Cobb to Gwinnett to south Fulton counties.

The Roswell family wasn't thrilled with the far-flung venues, McAlvany said. But the three-day tournament's survival was a relief.

"I was so happy," she said. "We were worried about it."

With play under way Saturday, Big South organizers said a host of complications that came with rebooking the massive competition had largely been resolved.

The move posed a logistical challenge. More than 10,000 players and their families and friends were expected, translating into nearly 40,000 participants. The GWCC was the only local facility that could have accommodated all 3,800 matches.

After the tornado, organizers needed to find 895,000 new square feet of floor, with 25-foot ceilings.

A chance for teams to go on to the national championships isn't all that was at stake: The games' estimated economic impact for the metro area is $18 million.

Big South Executive Director Lauri Dagostino said the Atlanta Convention & Visitor's Bureau stepped up to help.

"This wouldn't have happened without the ACVB," she said Saturday. "We had some rough spots yesterday, but it was more due to changing logistics so dramatically and then having to work out the kinks."

At the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, for instance, workers lay down court tiles last week but then had to reconfigure them – and move the 500-pound steel plates beneath them – to make room for more courts after an eighth venue fell through.

Club volleyball is fast-growing, and Dagostino said families can spend $3,000 to $10,000 a year on club and travel expenses. Many players hope to earn a college scholarship.

"It's definitely a dream to play in college," said Brittany Woods, 17, a 6-foot 2-inch Fayetteville resident who was excited after two wins Saturday.

Some participants grumbled about the multiple locations, a lack of seating at some venues and the distance between pre-booked hotels and the courts. But they mostly blamed Mother Nature.

Shelley Lusco of New Orleans, who watched her daughter Ashleigh Madron play Saturday at the Suwanee Sports Academy, said organizers did a good job rearranging the tournament.

"Hey, we're Katrina people, we know the feeling," she said. "We're glad they got to play."

Staff photographer Kimberly Smith contributed to this report