Although many Rio-bound teams chose to sit out the final FIVB beach volleyball tournament before the Olympics, the field of competition at the Klagenfurt Major remains strong, and there's no lack of excitement as the players pursue their share of the $800,000 prize purse.

Following along from home? Here's what you should take note of:

New American Faces

With all four of the American Olympic duos choosing to sit out the Klagenfurt event, other up-and-coming teams had the opportunity to attend. On the women's side, five Team USA pairs entered the tournament, and six men's duos made the journey.

Team USA Pairs Competing in Klagenfurt

• Lane Carico/Summer Ross (Advanced to main draw through qualifier)
  
• Emily Day/Brittany Hochevar (Advanced to main draw through qualifier)
  
• Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes (Wildcard into the main draw)
  
• Kim DiCello/Kendra Van Zwieten (Eliminated in first round of qualifier)
  
• Kelley Larsen/Betsi Flint (Eliminated in second round of qualifier)
  

• Billy Allen/Theo Brunner (Advanced to main draw through qualifier)
  
• Taylor Crabb/Taylor Crabb (Advanced to main draw through qualifier)
  
• John Hyden/Tri Bourne (Main draw)
  
• Mark Burik/Marty Lorenz (Eliminated in country quota)
  
• Ryan Doherty/John Mayer (Advanced to main draw through qualifier)
  
• Sean Rosenthal/Jeremy Casebeer (Eliminated in country quota)
  

Rio Beach Volleyball Preview

Although the eight American Olympians chose to arrive in Rio a few days earlier rather than play in Klagenfurt, plenty of Rio-bound teams are competing.

Olympians in Klagenfurt

• Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst (Austria)
  
• Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter (Canada)
  
• Chaim Schalk/Ben Saxton (Canada)
  
• Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen (Germany)
  
• Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins (Latvia)
  
• Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (Netherlands)
  
• Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst (Netherlands)
  
• Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel (Poland)
  
• Bartosz Losiak (Poland)* 
  
• Nikita Liamin/Dmitri Barsouk (Russia)
  
• Konstantin Semenov/Viacheslav Krasilnikov (Russia)
  

• Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug (Argentina)
  
• Mariafe Artacho del Solar/Nicole Laird (Australia)
  
• Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy (Australia)
  
• Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas (Canada)
  
• Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova (Czech Republic)
  
• Karla Borger/Britta Butte (Germany)
  
• Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst (Germany)
  
• Evgeniya Ukolova/Ekaterina Birlova (Russia)
  
• Elsa Baquerizo/Lilliana Fernandez (Spain)
  
• Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre (Switzerland)
  
• Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr (Switzerland)
  

*Losiak's Olympic partner Piotr Kantor is sitting out the Klagenfurt Major due to a broken thumb. Kantor hopes to be recovered in time for Rio.

Huge Upset

USC seniors Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes received a wildcard bid into the Klagenfurt main draw and quickly proved that they deserve to be there by defeating Rio-bound Canadians Jamie Broder and Kristina Valjas and then upsetting the top-seeded Germans Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst in straight sets.

Former NCAA Stars Hit the Beach

In addition to current college athletes Claes and Hughes, former NCAA all-stars Becky Perry and Alex Jupiter are competing in Klagenfurt.

In the final round of the qualifier, University of Washington alum Becky Perry, who plays for Italy, and partner Laura Giombini defeated USC grad Jupiter, who competes alongside Laura Longuet for France. Perry and Giombini are currently 0-1 in Pool C after losing to Polish Olympians Monika Brzostek and Kinga Kolosinska.

[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BIU-_ZCgMPY/?taken-by=becky_perry" hide_caption="0"]

While at Washington, Perry earned Second-Team, All-American honors as an outside hitter. Former Trojan Jupiter was a two-time, First-Team, All-American and the 2011 AVCA National Player of the Year.