A while back, Nando Di Fino wrote in The Wall Street Journal about how fantasy could be a key to growing the popularity of professional beach volleyball. Now, the tour just might be one step closer.

On Jan. 22, the Association of Volleyball Professionals — the country’s only pro beach volleyball tour — launched a new website with the help of Digitaria. According to the press release from Digitaria, “fantasy games” will be among the offerings of this new online presence.

The site is being rolled out in pieces, and the fantasy section doesn’t appear to be one of the pieces available at this point. The current lineup beyond the homepage consists of the tour schedule up through late February and a news section.

It’s a shame that the games aren’t yet available, particularly in light of the announcement. AVP events are taking place, and it would seem to be a good chance to try to take advantage of a little publicity. That said, it’s not exactly equivalent to the NFL kicking off in September with no central fantasy operators running. There will be time for interested players to catch on if the AVP can market properly.

Digitaria could offer some more help on that front, as the new volleyball site coincides with the introduction of a new sports division within the digital media company. Digitaria has experience with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens among others.

The site itself is quite attractive and appears to be easy to navigate. We’ll have to see what comes of it as other new features are added. The press release seems to focus on enhancing the experience of the AVP’s fans, but if the new business partners hope to capitalize on the most recent Olympic gold medal for the U.S. women and satisfy a pretty decent list of sponsors — including Bud Light, McDonald’s, Nature Valley and Gatorade — they’ll have to grow that audience.

According to a Compete.com snapshot, site traffic for avp.com hovered around 20,000 at the beginning of last year before spiking to 70,000 in August — when the Olympics were going on. Afterward, things quieted back down.

The pretty Web pages are a start, but attractive, enjoyable fantasy games sure would help a lot more. Just look at what FLW Outdoors was able to do with its fantasy fishing contest last year.

One guy dashed (sorry, LenDale) for 108 yards and four touchdowns in the final week of most fantasy football seasons. The other merely threw for 351 yards and two scores.

One challenged the single-season record for passing yards. The other merely scored three more touchdowns than anyone else in the league.

In the end, the Fantasy Sports Writers Association membership dubbed Carolina running back DeAngelo Williams the 2008 Fantasy Football Player of the Year.

“The 2008 Fantasy Football Player of the Year race was one of the most competitive in the past dozen years,” said Mike Beacom, president and chairman of the FSWA. ““It was exciting to see a wide open competition like this one. “An argument could be made for a number of fantasy football players.”

Williams garnered 55.3 percent of the first-place votes, according to the FSWA, with Saints quarterback Drew Brees tallying just more than 30 percent. Atlanta running back Michael Turner followed in third, with the next two finishers — Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner and Houston receiver Andre Johnson, respectively — also earning some first-place votes.

Carolina’s top back wasn’t even drafted as a starter in many leagues and failed to score in any of the first four games. From weeks 5 through 16, however, he only failed to reach the end zone in one outing. Those who played out the fantasy season through Week 17 got another touchdown-free game, but Williams did run for 178 yards at New Orleans.

The FSWA is composed of experienced fantasy writers, including the nearly 100 new members who joined in the past year. Beacom says the group will begin naming a top player for college football as well next season.

(Note: Beacom also serves as publisher for SportsBuff.com, part of the same company that owns this site.)