As the champagne dried on his T-shirt and bikini-clad women danced in the sand about 10 yards away, Brian Patterson of Suwanee explained his role in helping Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal win a beach volleyball championship at Atlantic Station.

Atlanta, you might know, doesn't have much beach, and for 51 weeks of the year it has even less beach volleyball. Patterson has both year-round. He and his wife insisted on that when they bought their house.

"One of the requirements was, 'Is there a big enough, flat enough area to put a sand court, with no homeowners association to veto it?'" Patterson said.

Last week, Paterson's court became Gibb's and Rosenthal's practice facility. Sunday, the two beat Anthony Medel and Fred Souza 18-21, 21-15, 15-10 to win the $20,000 first prize at the AVP Atlanta Open.

When Gibb and Rosenthal squirted victory champagne all over Patterson and other fans who sat within range of the winners' stand, it was their way of saying thanks to the man they call "BP" and to the city in which they have won back-to-back titles.

A few thousand fans looked on in the enclosed, metal-bleacher stadium. Many onlookers were dressed like players, the shirtless men in shorts and shades, the women in sleeveless outfits soaking up the almost-summer sun. The Atlanta Open isn't just a sports event; it's a three-day geographical marvel.

"They do a really good job of making this feel like a beach to us," Gibb said.

"This is always one of the best stops on tour," said Misty May-Treanor, who teamed with Kerri Walsh to win the women's title 21-7, 21-17 over Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan.

"We love the fans here in Georgia," Walsh said. "This is our third year here, and every year it's gotten bigger and better."

But there's no guarantee Atlanta will remain on the AVP Tour in 2009. The 2008 event was the third in a three-year contract, and though Atlanta Sports Council President Gary Stokan said attendance was strong, with sold-out crowds Saturday and Sunday, he continues to seek corporate sponsorships.

He'd like to expand the tournament into a summer festival with music and more food options, and he'd like to leave the stadium up permanently and use it for a tennis tournament and other entertainment events. But all of that takes money.

Fans paid $20 or $35 for tournament tickets to Sunday's competition.

Thirty minutes after the final match, more than 50 people stood in line to pose for photos with or get autographs from May-Treanor and Walsh, the Olympic gold medalists and world champions and the top U.S. team heading into this year's Olympics in Beijing.

Lynn and Sao Yang traveled from Statesville, N.C., to see their first AVP Tour event and said they weren't disappointed. Tiffany Jones, now of Atlanta but formerly of Los Angeles, was impressed with the enthusiasm fans showed for the sport.

Patterson, director of volleyball operations at the Suwanee Sports Academy, is a transplant, too, from Pennsylvania. He connected with Rosenthal and Gibb through a mutual friend.

Because they could use Patterson's court for practice, they got to spend a full week in Atlanta instead of flying from Croatia to California and then back across the country. They played golf at the TPC Sugarloaf and Bear's Best and had the best practice facility they could want.

"He had a beautiful court. We got out there and he had a cooler of Gatorade waiting for us, towels, music," Rosenthal said. "We were like, 'Make it tough on us.'"

For the winners, and for Atlanta, it was just another weekend at the beach.