Nearly 10,000 fans turn out for beach volleyball tournament

Over the event's three days, about 9,800 fans hit "17th Street Beach," as promoters call the stadium erected on an Atlantic Station parking lot, an increase over 2008 despite the stadium seating being reduced. On Sunday, the full 2,500 showed up with blue skies overhead and bleached sand underfoot — hardly a ripple at Turner Field or the Georgia Dome, but plenty for a raucous atmosphere in this intimate setup.

Since the AVP returned here in 2006, Atlanta has become a fixture on the circuit. Three of the four sessions sold out this weekend, the first sellouts that the tour has had in six tour stops this season. While the Atlanta Sports Council and the Association of Volleyball Professionals worked on a one-year contract for this year, both sides want to extend the event.

"I'm going to call Gary [Monday] about that," said Jason Hodell, the tour's CEO, of sports council president Gary Stokan.

Stokan said the tournament has attracted fans of the game and of the beach lifestyle, and sponsors have bought in for access to the 25-34 age demographic.

"You saw the crowd," Stokan said. "That's what it was."

On Sunday, fans received excellent return on their entertainment dollar, as both men's and women's finals went the full three games in taut matches.

In the women's final, the top-ranked pair of Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs overcame a slow start to oust Dianne DeNecochea and Carrie Dodd, neither of whom had won in at least eight seasons, 19-21, 21-19, 15-8.

On the men's side, Phil Dalhausser and Phil Rogers, who won Olympic gold in Beijing and had won four of the first five AVP events this year, were stunned by John Hyden and Sean Scott, 21-14, 18-21, 19-17.

Both winning teams split winner's checks of $24,000. Youngs, 39, triumphed not far from the Olympic Village where she stayed as a member of the U.S. indoor volleyball team in the 1996 Olympics.

"Incredible fans," Youngs said of the rally stick-beating throngs. "They really love beach volleyball."