The pair qualified for the 2017 FIVB World Championships via the NORCECA continental qualifying rounds. Despite no playing experience together on the FIVB World Tour, Nusbaum and Vanderburg have posted two fourths, a fifth and seventh on the NORCECA circuit. With both players competing in the FIVB World Championships for the first-time, Nusbaum, who played in his first world tour event in 2011 like Vandenburg, captured the bronze medal at the 2011 FIVB under-19 World Championships with Grant O’Gorman.