Love is in the air ... on the ground ... in the sand

(AP Photo/Jae Hong)
Kevin Love goes up to try to block a spike by Sean Scott in their first-round match this morning in Manhattan Beach.

Some of the photographic highlights of Kevin Love's attempt to play in today's qualifying round for the Manhattan Beach Open, but one that ended with a one-and-done against the No. 1 seeds John Hyden and Sean Scott 21-16, 21-15 in about an hour:

(AP Photo/Jae Hong)
I've got your double-double right here: Kevin Love signals to partner Hans Stolfus during their first-round match this morning in Manhattan Beach.

(AP Photo/Jae Hong)
Can you dig it: Love comes back to help Stolfus as he receives a serve ...

(AP Photo/Jae Hong)
Love can't reach this one ...

The 6-foot-10 Love told the Associated Press: "Obviously getting beat is never fun, but being competitive, playing against the best team in the country, a team that hasn't lost all summer, was a lot of fun.

"It's addicting. It's an excuse to get on the beach and near the ocean. I definitely want to keep playing, see how good I can get. These guys, they have their 10,000 hours in, so I'm kind of struggling in that regard.

"It's like having a good basketball sense, you got to have a good court sense out there and for me, I haven't spent enough time out there on the volleyball court to really know."

Added Stolfus: "We both said, 'Let's have as much fun as possible.' If we went in too serious we'd put too much pressure on."

Here's a Stolfus blog about playing with Love on his UniversalSports.com site (linked here).