V.W.H. Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette Spectators watch the action at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown, yesterday as volleyball teams compete in the Northeast Qualifier for the Junior National Championship. Click photo for larger image.

Thirty-one volleyball courts checkerboarded the indoor landscape yesterday, and with almost as many balls in the air the man standing in the middle of it all appeared like a figurine in a snow globe.

Chip Reiley, executive director of the super-sized volleyball tournament, surveyed the madness -- teams from Puerto Rico, Texas and Hawaii; more than 120 college recruiters; screams and whistles; high school girls in a rainbow of uniforms trying to gain attention, and trying to win.

"A lot of action," Mr. Reiley said, nodding. "A lot of action."

The event commandeering the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown, this weekend and next bills itself as a tournament, the East Coast Volleyball Northeast Qualifier.

It's grown in 20 years into a platform of major business. At its inception, Mr. Reiley needed two courts to hold the event.

Yesterday, college coaches from Georgetown, Duke and Dartmouth watched the action, knowing, as most players did, that a strong impression could yield a great opportunity. Because of Title IX, the federal law enforcing gender equity in college sports, women's volleyball scholarships abound.

Based on the latest NCAA data, for 2004-05, a total of 982 colleges and universities had varsity women's volleyball teams. Men, whose scholarship totals are dominated by football, had 79 varsity teams.

"It's one of the big reasons for this event being as large as it is," Mr. Reiley said.

Teams arriving in Pittsburgh for the tournament represented clubs, not high schools. Counting parents, volunteers and coaches, event organizers expected 6,000 people at the convention center this weekend. They expect another 6,000 next weekend.

For that influx, eight tractor-trailers brought the courts -- stored at a York, Pa., warehouse in one-meter blocks -- into the convention center's main exhibit area, where assembly began Tuesday at sun-up. Friday morning, the games began. So, too, did the carnival.

Want gear? You could find T-shirts whose printed messages catered to every audience: "volleyball dad," "volleyball grandpa," and "practice safe sets." Or, to punctuate the obvious for a family spending its Easter weekend at a volleyball tournament, this sticker: "volleyball is my life."

"I haven't even had Easter the last four or five years," said Kelsey Reese, a 17-year-old on the R&B Select team, from York.

"We decided to celebrate Easter last weekend," her teammate, Chelsea Trees, 16, said.

Want to gain recruiters' attention? One private consultant offered three counseling sessions designed to teach parents and teenagers how to earn a scholarship.

On one table in the center's lobby, dozens of players deposited 8 1/2-by-11-inch fliers, de facto sporting resumes, listing their heights, weights, cell phone numbers, career volleyball highlights and academic scores. Several girls included photos. One girl's resume followed under the massive heading, "Uncommitted Junior."

On account of NCAA rules, though, Big-Time College Coach cannot speak to Uncommitted Junior, or her parents for that matter. Club coaches, then, often become go-betweens.

"I already did that twice today," Lock Haven University's Tom Justice said, referencing his conversations with club coaches. "[The message] is, 'Please tell so-and-so that she'd be great for our program.' "

"The reason I come here," he said, "is not just to see a cross-section of talented players, but it's a chance to network with their coaches and to see how these players perform against competition," he said. "I get DVDs from these players, in which they have carefully edited out all mistakes. I can tell. Nobody is that exacting. I have to be able to see the player in order to get a true understanding -- warts and all."

In previous years, the Northeast Qualifier, among nine nationwide, took place in Baltimore. But because of a scheduling conflict at the Baltimore Convention Center, event organizers, including Mr. Reiley, decided to switch the event to Pittsburgh. It will return to Baltimore next year -- presumably, with even more courts and teams.

"The growth of volleyball," Mr. Reiley said, "just hasn't stopped."