Elite international volleyball players commonly attend college in the U.S. They often reappear on American volleyball fans’ radars when they join their country’s national teams and compete against Team USA in international competition.

More rare, however, is when NCAA stars from overseas return to their home countries and join the international beach tour. That’s exactly what happened with these four athletes who are currently competing on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.

Alex Jupiter, France

A three-time All-American outside hitter for USC, Alex Jupiter became the first Trojan to earn the AVCA National Player of the Year award in 2011 when she led the team with 514 kills as a senior. That year, USC advanced to the NCAA national semifinals. The Paris native moved to the U.S. as a high school freshman and when she was 16, she qualified for the AVP Manhattan Beach Open with Leilani Kamahoahoa. The 26-year-old began competing for France on the beach world tour in 2015, partnering with Laura Longuet and snagging a career-high fifth at the 2015 Puerto Vallarta Open.

Sarah Pavan, Canada

Pavan, a native of Kitchener, Ontario, arrived at the University of Nebraska in 2004, a year after making her Canadian Senior National Team debut at the age of 16. In her four years with the Huskers, she collected honors by the handful, including AVCA Freshman of the Year, Big 12 Player of the Year, Honda-Broderick Cup winner, Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year, AVCA Player of the Year and four First Team All-American honors. Oh, and lest we forget, NCAA national champion in 2006. The 6-5 lefty began playing beach in 2013, pairing up with Heather Bansley, but she continued to play indoor overseas, including this past winter when she played in Shanghai. Pavan and Bansley have had incredible success and the duo currently ranks fifth in the FIVB Provisional Olympic Rankings.

Olaya Pazo, Venezuela

Olaya Pazo joined the Venezuelan indoor national team in 1997 at the age of 14 and was named the team’s most valuable player the following year. She and her identical twin sister Rebeca both attended college in the U.S., with Olaya playing at UT Arlington for two years, earning the Southland Conference co-Player of the Year honor, before joining Rebeca at Rice. Olaya has played on the FIVB World Tour for Venezuela since 2010, earning a career-best fifth-place finish at the 2015 Xiamen Open with Norisbeth Agudo.

Marija Milosevic, Serbia

Milosevic played two seasons at South Carolina and was named to the SEC All-Freshman team in 2005. She transferred to Oregon as a junior, where she joined two other Serbian players, and was a member of the 2007 Oregon squad that advanced to the NCAA Round of 16. The 6-0 native of Ljig, Serbia, began competing on the beach world tour in 2015, partnering with Milena Matic and collecting a career-high 17th at the 2015 Sochi Open.

Future International Beach Stars

Now that American colleges offer beach volleyball and there is an official NCAA national championship for the sport, we will start to see many more foreign former NCAA athletes competing on the beach world tour. Athletes from 25 countries played in the 2016 NCAA beach season, with the largest number of players hailing from Canada, Brazil, Germany and Serbia. Here’s a list of foreign NCAA beach players we predict will make waves on the FIVB tour in the coming years.

• Nele Barber | Berlin, Germany | Long Beach State
  
• Anete Brinke | Riga, Latvia | Long Beach State
  
• Sophie Bukovec | Toronto, Canada | USC
  
• Martyna Gluchowicz | Kryzanowice, Poland | Florida International
  
• Nina Interwies | Gammelby, Germany | Georgia State
  
• Kristin Lind, Tierp, Sweden, Stetson
  
• Olivia MacDonald | Hamilton, New Zealand | Arizona
  
• Nicole McNamara | Vancouver, Canada | UCLA
  
• Megan McNamara | Vancouver, Canada | UCLA
  
• Jessica Ngauamo | Gold Coast, Australia, UCLA
  
• Mandi Orellana | Guatemala City, Guatemala | LSU
  
• Lara Schreiber | Freiburg, Germany | Hawaii
  
• Julie Varga | Fredrikstad, Norway | Stetson