In its second year, AVP League Palm Beach gets thumbs up from athletes, fans and organizers | Photos

Bobby Corvino was all smiles Saturday night. As the Chief Operating Officer of the AVP League Palm Beach, Corvino was happy with the number of local fans that turned out for the beach volleyball’s league’s season opener at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with being here in Delray,” Corvino said. “I think that this is a place that we want to have as our home for Memorial Day. We want the people of Delray to think that when Memorial Day comes around that it’s the start of the AVP season.”

After the gates opened at 5 p.m., beach volleyball fans got a chance to meet and greet members of the Palm Beach Passion a half hour later.

Christina Boccio and her daughter Emily, 5, were hoping to meet with the 6-foot-9 Phil Dalhausser after his match. Christina, a Delray Beach resident, has been playing beach volleyball for 13 years. She’s been watching Dalhausser play for a while.

“We’ve been watching [Dalhausser] play for years and he motivates us and we love playing,” said Christina, who is originally from Oceanside, N.Y. “Now, Emily is learning how to play beach volleyball herself.”

At first sight, Emily said that when she sees Dalhausser, she’s going to tell him that “you play really good.”

Dalhausser and Trevor Crabb teamed up for the hometown Palm Beach Passion to take on Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, of the Dallas Dream. Benesh and Partain won twice by the score of 15-10.

Representing the women’s side of the Palm Beach Passion were Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, who faced the Dallas Dream’s Kylie Deberg and Hailey Harward.

Thomas Hawkins, 33, of North Carolina, joined Matt Heath, who was coaching Dalhausser, for the festivities. Hawkins was impressed with Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson’s 15-9, 15-12 win.

“The blocking has been really great,” Hawkins said. “I feel like they’ve been covering their angles super well. I haven’t seen a whole lot of easy stuff being giving up in the short part of the court, which I think is important, especially for good teams. It’s been fun to watch them convert from the deep part of the court.”

Chase Budinger and Mike Evans (San Diego Smash) were able to defeat the Brooklyn Blaze’s Seain Cook and Brian Miller 16-14, 12-15, 15-10. Budinger said Evans’ setting was the difference.

“We felt a little bit more comfortable today than yesterday,” Evans said. “This was an awesome turnout. Great weather, not too hot. Great atmosphere. Really cool setup in the stadium here. Just excited to play in front of a ton of people.”

Corvino agreed. “It’s a remarkable feat how the workers are able to get the sand in here and get the sand out,” Corvino said. “They leave it in better shape than if we were even here. The change from Friday night to Saturday night worked out better than the Saturday night to Sunday. We were able to navigate the weather last night. Hopefully, we can do more of this in the years to come.”

To finish recapping the second year’s event, the Brooklyn Blaze’s Lexy Denaburg and Julia Donlin defeated the San Diego Smash’s Toni Rodriguez and Geena Urango 17-15, 15-10.

Heath Freeman is executive chairman of the AVP and president of Alden Global Capital, an investment firm that owns the Sun Sentinel.