As beach volleyball’s biggest tournament descends on Manhattan Beach on Thursday, some of the sport's biggest names will not be playing due to scheduling conflicts, injuries and a boycott by two of the biggest names in the sport, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.

“Everyone in our sport wants to play in Manhattan Beach,” Casey Jennings, professional beach volleyball player and husband of Kerri Walsh, said of the historic tournament which is in its 51st year. “But a lot of players are not happy, not just my wife and her partner [Misty May-Treanor], with how the tournament is being used for points towards the trial series for the Olympics.”

In years past, the Manhattan Beach Open brought together the best talent in the world, competing in the most historic event in the world of beach volleyball, but this year’s event will be closed to all international competitors and will be open only to U.S. citizens because of the Olympic implications.

Said Jennings, “We’re all playing overseas right now in the FIVB [Federation Internationale de Volleyball] tournaments and they're saying they're going to take the berth and give it to someone who has never even played the Brazilians or French. Theoretically a team could win the trials and kick a team out of the spot [for the Olympics] that has been bleeding on the sand for three years overseas.

“We’re not doing it [boycotting the MB Open] out of fear of someone taking our spot," said Jennings, a Manhattan Beach resident who lives just three blocks from the pier where the tournament is held. "It’s more about justifying the validity of an Olympic berth and that you earned it by playing against the top international competition.

"What if somebody who has never even won a tournament gets hot at the trials and wins a USAV [USA Volleyball, which is responsible for Olympic play for indoor and beach volleyball] event and beats us because they have been home for three years eating healthy food and we’ve been out across the world working our butts off, and all of a sudden, they're on the biggest stage. Is that how they think we are going to win our gold [medal for first place in Olympic competition]?”

Last year’s Open winner and 2008 Olympian Sean Rosenthal feels much the same way and will not be participating at this year's event.

“It’s sad because this is where I grew up and where I fell in love with the sport,” said Rosenthal. “I will be competing in The Netherlands but would not have gone if I would have been in the States [he's been competing overseas]. I don’t think it's fair to the guys who have been working so hard overseas and have been sacrificing so much to make the Olympics.”

For its part, USAV says that it is still reviewing the process that will be used to determine what players go to the Olympics in 2012.

“We have not made a formal announcement on how we are choosing the 2012 Olympic squad,” said B.J. Hoeptner Evans, media relations for USAV.

Much as the USAV appears to be testing its Olympic selection process, the city of Manhattan Beach has had its fair share of Open drama.

Last year's 50th anniversary tournament was run solely by the city of Manhattan Beach after its usual big sponsor, the Association of Volleyball Professionals, declared bankruptcy and closed after nearly 30 years. The city scrambled less than one week before the tournament date to make sure the Open didn't miss a year. The Open was a pared-down but successful event in 2010.

This year, a new partnership is running the tournament, USAV and IMG, along with the city. City Council approved the deal at its June 7th meeting. The MB Open is part of the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volley ball Series.

The date for Cuervo Pro's MB Open, long considered the World Series of beach volleyball, coincides with the National Volleyball League’s Virginia Beach stop and the FIVB Swatch World Tour 2011 in The Netherlands, which has left more than a few players scratching their heads.

“I was kind of surprised that the dates bumped up against each other,” said Albert Hanneman, president and founder of the NVL. “We had our date set well before they did but they still decided to hold it on the same day.

"I think with the year we have had, with the AVP [going bankrupt and closing] and everything else, that we could have found dates that didn’t compete against each other. I think it hurts the sport a little bit.”

Another ouch for the sport is the sidelining of the 2008 gold medalist team and the world's current number one ranked team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers. Rogers suffered a setback, injuring his kneed at an FIVB tournament in Finland on Sunday.

The MB Open will have some local beach volleyball stars such as Sean Scott (Redondo Beach) and John Hyden who won the Corona Light Wide Open in Hermosa Beach last weekend, Aaron Wachtfogel (Hermosa Beach) who won the event last year with Rosenthal and who made it to the semi-finals last week in Hermosa with partner Bill Strickland (Manhattan Beach).

Local women set to play include Jenny Kropp (Hawthorne), Tealle Hunkus (El Segundo) and Heather Lowe (Redondo Beach) in a record field of 64 teams.

Both genders will battle for the largest domestic prize of 2011, $200,000, as well as having their names enshrined on a permanent plaque on the Manhattan Beach Pier’s “Volleyball Walk of Fame.”

One person who will be garnering a ton of attention this weekend will be former UCLA and current Minnesota Timberwolves basketball star Kevin Love who will be making his pro beach volleyball debut.

“I’m very excited about playing out there with so many talented athletes,” said Love, who has strong ties to the South Bay. His father Stan played high school basketball at Morningside in Inglewood while his uncles (Beach Boy Mike Love) attended Hawthorne High. “These guys are top notch athletes and it is going to be fun to be able to test myself against these guys.

“It’s a different jump than basketball," said Love. "Basketball you jump off of one foot and in volleyball you jump off of two feet so it’s going to be interesting to see how I do.”