Home-Sand Advantage

The Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour stops in Huntington Beach this weekend, and Brian Lewis couldn’t be happier.

“It’s great to be home,” said Lewis, who went to Corona del Mar High and Orange Coast College and now lives in Huntington Beach.

Lewis, who has won just over $900,000 in his 11-year pro beach career, is enjoying a resurgence, playing some of his best volleyball ever. He has climbed to the AVP’s No. 3 ranking this week with his partner, fourth-ranked Canyon Ceman of Manhattan Beach.

Lewis, 32, is also looking forward to spending this week at home with his wife Pam and son Dylan, who celebrates his first birthday Saturday, another reason why Lewis loves that the AVP has scheduled half of its 12 tournaments in California this season.

“In Hermosa Beach last weekend, the crowds were outstanding,” Lewis said. “It sure beats the heck out of playing in some parking lot of a shopping mall in San Antonio, in front of, like, two or three people, and it’s 150 degrees out there.

“I mean, this is beach volleyball, right? It needs to be on the beach.”

After watching the sport boom in the early ‘90s, when prize money reached millions with an accompanying major network television contract, economic mismanagement led to the AVP’s financial reorganization last year.

This season, the AVP’s off-court outlook appears brighter, with several major sponsorships secured, including Anheuser-Busch, Ford, Yahoo!, Planters, Sunkist and Wilson.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Ceman said. “[The AVP is] picking primarily beach spots and there are less tournaments so I think that’s helpful. It seems like we’re trying to do the right things.”

Among those things is reduced prize money. The Huntington Beach Open has a purse of $75,000, with the winning team sharing $16,000. Teams making the main draw will earn a minimum of $500.

“It is humbling to be playing for 30% less than we used to,” Ceman said. “Brian made $200,000 in 1995 and this season, he’ll probably make around $50,000. And both of us are playing probably as well as we have in our careers.”

Lewis’ great jump serve, combined with both players’ top-notch ball-control, passing and setting abilities have helped them climb the ladder although neither is an overpowering hitter.

Lewis and Ceman have one second- and two third-place finishes in the three AVP events this season.

“We’ve been consistent,” said Lewis, who is trying to win his first title with Ceman. “[Winning one] will happen. I’m not worried about it.”

Said Ceman: “It’s not that we think we can’t win, because we’ve both won with other guys, but it’s a matter of putting a string together. We’ve been in two finals, and had five [third-place finishes] together, and in each case we can point to a specific reason why we didn’t win the key match.

“There’s no phobia. I think we both feel it’s coming.”

Lewis and Ceman got together after Lewis took some time off last season following the birth of Lewis’ son.

Lewis’ absence left his former partner, David Swatik, to team with Mike Whitmarsh. Swatik and Whitmarsh won the Hermosa Beach tournament.

“[Swatik] wanted to stay with Whit,” Lewis said. “Canyon called me up, we got together, and two weeks later, we finished second at Belmar [N.J.].”

In that single-elimination tournament, Ceman said a turning point came in a quarterfinal victory over Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana.

“We’re playing a best-of-three match,” Ceman said, “and we lost the first game after I failed to side out three times in a row. Usually, if you lose the first game in a tight one, it’s easy to fold up your tent.

“But Brian told me, ‘Hey Canyon, it’s no big deal; it just means we have to win in three games.’ It’s not necessarily what he says, but how he says it. He believes in the team, has faith in himself and the team and he projects that.

“He never blames his partners and he inspires better play in his partners. It’s no coincidence that the great players all have that quality.”

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Men’s Volleyball

* What: AVP men’s pro beach volleyball tournament, two-man teams

* When: Friday through Sunday

* Where: Huntington Beach Pier

* Schedule: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Saturday; 8-30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sunday

* Purse: $75,000, with the championship team winning $16,000.

* Details: The qualification tournament begins Friday with eight berths in the main draw at stake. The main draw begins Saturday, with 32 teams competing in a double-elimination format. The tournament concludes Sunday, with the final scheduled for 4 p.m. Top teams scheduled to compete include top-ranked Jose Loiola and Emanuel Rego from Brazil (who won last weekend at Hermosa Beach), San Clemente’s Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson (Laguna Beach High), Huntington Beach’s Brian Lewis and Canyon Ceman, Dain Blanton (Laguna Beach High) and Eric Fonoimoana.

* Admission: Free

* Youth clinic: Top AVP players teach beach volleyball skills during a free youth clinic being held at 5 p.m. Friday at the pier. All young players are welcome. AVP players will also be available for photos and autographs.