Typically, the bottom seed in the qualifier would be hard-pressed to make the main draw of an Association of Volleyball Professionals tournament. This week in Huntington Beach, CA, however, the bottom seed of the women's qualifier could very well win the whole thing.

That bottom-seeded duo is Canadian Olympian Sarah Pavan and two-time FIVB gold medalist Maria Clara Salgado of Brazil. While neither player has been eligible to compete on the AVP in previous seasons due to her foreign citizenship, Pavan was recently granted permanent residency in the United States, and Salgado married American citizen (and fellow pro beach volleyball player) Jeremy Casebeer last year, giving both players the ability to play on tour.

Pavan, a four-time All-American and an NCAA national champion at the University of Nebraska, began playing beach volleyball for Canada in 2013, collecting three silver and three bronze medals on the FIVB tour and qualifying for the Rio Olympics with Heather Bansley, finishing fifth.

Salgado comes from a legendary Brazilian beach volleyball family and started playing on the FIVB in 2000 when she was only 17. In addition to her two FIVB gold medals, she's collected four silvers and 11 bronze medals and accumulated $532,400 of prize money at FIVB events, mostly playing alongside her sister, Carolina Salgado.

This Brazil-Canada alliance formed after Pavan heard through the grapevine that Salgado was planning to play the AVP tour this season and was in the market for a partner.

"It's tough because a lot of the people who play AVP want to play internationally with their same partner, which makes sense," Pavan explained. "Maria is Brazilian and would represent Brazil if she played internationally, so it was kind of an ideal situation for both of us."

Ideal, except for the fact that Salgado just finished up her season on the Brazilian domestic tour and arrived back in the States on May 1, giving the pair two days to practice before the start of the AVP Huntington Beach Open qualifier on Thursday, May 4.

"[Maria] has been playing a really high level with the Brazilian tour," Pavan said. "She had a baby in the summer, so she worked really hard to get back as soon as possible. She's been playing and training, but never with me."

It's likely been many years since either of these elite athletes was a bottom seed in anything, and Pavan acknowledges that to make it to the main draw she and Salgado will have to survive a test of endurance.

"I think the biggest challenge, if we keep winning, will be the number of matches that we have to play," Pavan said. "It's been awhile since we had to play that many games, and a lot of the girls that we'll be playing against have been playing on [the AVP] tour for several years now, so they know what's up and they've got that experience."

For those other qualifier players, it might be a shock to match up against an Olympian and a World Tour gold medalist in the first round, and Pavan admits there has been a little bit of light-hearted heckling.

"Everybody started at the bottom at some point, albeit probably when they were in high school," Pavan said, "so I'm just starting at the bottom a few years later. I think I'd probably come under more fire if [the AVP] gave us wildcards to the first few events, so I think they're doing it the right way."

The qualifier for the 2017 AVP Huntington Beach Open kicks off at 8 AM PT on Thursday, May 4. The schedule of matches has not yet been released.

Photos by FIVB