Hope for Kiraly in ATL

Karch Kiraly, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, is one of the few players on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour who doesn’t mind playing in the elements. Wind, rain, it makes no difference to Kiraly.

But the beating sun of Hot-lanta offers another familiarity for Kiraly: it’s here that he won a gold medal at the Atlanta summer games in 1996 with partner Kent Steffes. Atlanta is also the city where beach volleyball made its Olympic debut.

Kiraly, who is retiring from the AVP after this season, will compete in the main draw today with current partner Kevin Wong. The pair lost in the windy finals at the Tampa Open to Costa Mesa resident Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal. Play was stopped for two hours last Saturday because of tropical storm Barry, which brought high winds and rain to the St. Petersburg Times Forum.

Kiraly has won four out of five men’s events that have been held in Atlanta. He didn’t compete here last year.

MAY, WALSH SEEK MORE

Newport Harbor alumnus Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh will be looking to win their seventh straight title this weekend. The pair hasn’t lost a tournament since falling to Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs in the season opener in Miami. They finished second here last year behind Rachel Wacholder and Youngs.

This year, the biggest challenge May-Treanor and Walsh face is from No. 2 seeded Wacholder and Tyra Turner.

“They have seven years of experience together and there’s a lot of unspoken communication between them,” Turner told AVP.com. “They can give each other a certain look and know instinctively where the other person is going to be.”

“In order for Rachel and I to crack their dominance sooner rather than later, we have to figure everything out and make the most of our opportunities. The margin for error against them is not great. When you get the chance to make a play, you have to make it.”

May is now the AVP’s winningest female player, amassing 75 tournament titles.

COSTA MESANS CHALLENGE

Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers have dominated this year’s men’s tour, much the same way May-Treanor and Walsh have on the women’s side.

However, in both tournament losses this season, the pair has finished behind a Costa Mesa resident. Mike Lambert, who lives in Costa Mesa, and partner Stein Metzger, fought their way through the losers’ bracket to win the men’s final at Huntington Beach, where Dalhausser and Rogers finished third. Lambert and Metzger were tournament champions in Atlanta last year.

Gibb and Rosenthal won the Tampa Open when Dalhausser and Rogers were upended in the semifinals by Kiraly and Wong.

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.