Punahou alum Stein Metzger might be the only person in Hawai'i wishing for rain when he goes to the beach this weekend.

"As long as it helps us win, I'm all for it," he said. "I hope it rains here. I'm used to playing at the Outrigger in the rain. It never rains in California."

Metzger, originally from Ho-nolulu, is in town with the AVP Best of the Beach volleyball tournament at Queen's Surf Beach in Waikiki this weekend.

The invitation-only tournament is back in Honolulu with the top eight teams on the tour, men and women, competing to be crowned the "Best of the Beach."

Tomorrow's matches begin at 8:30 a.m. and run through 4:40 p.m. Sunday's matches begin at 8 a.m. with the women's championship at 2 p.m. and the men following at 3:30 p.m.

Metzger is joined by fellow Punahou graduates Mike Lambert, Sean Scott and Scott Wong in the tournament. Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh highlight the women's side.

"We've played and known each other since we were kids," he said of the Punahou alums on the tour. "It's really special for us. We really enjoy watching each other and cheer for each other. It's such a small pool coming out of Hawai'i and yet we seem to do really well."

And Metzger had the best year out of all of them.

He and his partner, Jake Gibb, won the 2005 Nissan Championship Series, and are the top-ranked team in the tournament. The duo, in their first year together on the beach, won four Association of Volleyball Professionals events this season.

"The big difference from last year was I had a full-time blocker and I could concentrate on defense," said Metzger, who led the tour with 935 digs. "He's considered the best blocker on the tour this year, and we have the best team defense, blocker and digger together."

Metzger also credited coach Jeff Alzina, who worked with the team in the preseason on their skills and sideout game.

"It's been really hard for people to score points off of us," Metzger said.

Metzger didn't play in last year's tournament in Honolulu because he didn't have enough points to receive an invitation. He was busy trying to qualify for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, where he eventually finished in fifth place with then-partner Dax Holdren.

Metzger, who resides in Manhattan Beach, Calif., still made the trip to Hawai'i.

"I had a great time. It was the first time I went to an AVP event and was only a spectator in years," he said. "It cemented my love for the tour. I just had a blast last year, watching and enjoying the tour."

Tomorrow marks the first time Metzger will play on the AVP Tour in his hometown, near the place where he first played beach volleyball in the fifth grade.

"And I loved it," he said. "I thought it was the greatest. Not to mention, you could surf, and come out of the water and play beach volleyball."

His early start and solid fundamental training by coaches Peter Balding, Scott Rigg and Chris McLachlin gave him the well-rounded skills he needed to succeed on the beach.

"I like the fact that you have to be good at all the skills, and each player has to develop all facets of the game," Metzger said. "I've never been the best at any one skill but I've always been pretty good at all of them."

After an All-America career at UCLA, he made the choice to play beach volleyball professionally in 1996, as opposed to training with the indoor national team, because "beach was the most lucrative it had ever been."

A year later, the league took a hit, and finally righted itself after it was reorganized in 2001.

"In the past four or five years, it's just grown leaps and bounds," he said. "The top five to 10 teams are constant professionals all year round. We don't have to get another job like bartending at night. We can't compete at the international level unless we are able to train all year round."

NOTES

AVP pros and local boys Stein Metzger, Mike Lambert and Sean Scott join other pros in a free volleyball clinic today from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Queen's Surf Beach. Children ages 8 to 17 are invited. ... Other Hawai'i players on the AVP tour include Punahou graduates Lee LeGrande and Kevin Wong, former University of Hawai'i player Heidi Illustre, and Tanya Fuamatu-Anderson, of University High and Hawai'i-Hilo.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.