Taylor Sander

Taylor Sander (born March 17, 1992) is an American volleyball player, member of the United States men's national volleyball team and Skra Bełchatów, gold medalist of the 2014 World League and 2015 World Cup, bronze medalist in Rio 2016.

Taylor Sander
Personal information
Full nameTaylor Lee Sander
NicknameThe Sandman
Prince-Ti-Tey
Nationality American
Born (1992-03-17) March 17, 1992
Huntington Beach, CA, United States
Height1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight80 kg (176 lb)
Spike358 cm (141 in)
Block335 cm (132 in)
College(s)Brigham Young University
Volleyball information
PositionOutside hitter
Current team PGE Skra Bełchatów
Number3
Career
YearsTeams
2011–2014
2014–2016
2016–2017
2017
2017–2018
2018–2019
2020–
BYU Cougars
BluVolley Verona
Beijing Volleyball
Al Arabi Doha
Volley Lube
Sada Cruzeiro
Skra Bełchatów
National team
2012– United States

Personal life

Sander is the son of Steven and Kera Sander. He has an older sister, Britney Wardle, and a younger brother, Brenden, who also plays volleyball and is a current member of brazilian team Sada Volei Cruzeiro. He graduated from Norco High School in Norco, California. At BYU Taylor majored in Global Studies. His parents are LDS, and he grew up LDS (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – also known by the nickname Mormons).[1] In July 2015, he married Rachel McQuivey, who represented the BYU Track & Field team as a long jumper and hurdler. On June 28, 2018, Taylor and Rachel welcomed their first child, Atli Taylor Sander.

Career

College

He was recruited by USC, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, and BYU.[2] At Brigham Young University Sander was a four-time AVCA All-American (three first-team citations, one second-team citation), the 2014 AVCA Player of the Year,[3] 2013 and 2014 MPSF Player of the Year, 2013 and 2014 MPSF Tournament MVP, and four-time All-MPSF First Team. He holds the BYU all-time single-match record for service aces (nine) and career service aces (182). In the rally-scoring era, is No. 1 at BYU in career kills (1,743), career attempts (3,464), career service aces (182), season attempts (1,021 in 2014), season service aces (55 in 2014) and aces in a match (nine).[4]

Regarding his decision to attend BYU he said in January 2012, "Growing up in Huntington Beach (Calif.) I've always been a big BYU fan. I grew up LDS and with my parents being LDS, that was the school we always cheered for and I've always wanted to go to BYU since I was a kid."[1]

Clubs

Sander signed a contract with Blu Volley Verona, an Italian Serie A1 team (top level), on June 10, 2014.[5]

National Team 2014

Sander competed with Team USA in the 2014 FIVB World League. 4th ranked USA upset 1st ranked Brazil to win the tournament, and Sander was named "best outside spiker" and tournament MVP (which included a $30,000 prize award).[6]

He was on the USA men's roster for the 2014 FIVB World Championships in Poland, August 30 – September 21, 2014.

He was selected as USA Volleyball's Men's Team Rookie of the Year.[7]

National Team 2015

He was a member of the U.S. team that competed in the 2015 NORCECA Champions Cup in Detroit, Michigan, USA, May 21–23, 2015.[8] Against Mexico May 21, 2015, Sander had 7 points on 6 spikes and 1 block. The U.S. defeated Mexico 25-15, 25-12, 25-17.[9] The following day Team USA defeated Cuba in four sets, 20-25, 25-17, 25-10, 25-14, guaranteeing a top two finish and a spot in the 2015 FIVB World Cup to be held September 8–23, 2015 in Japan. Sander totaled 15 points on 10 spikes, 3 blocks, and 2 aces.[10] In the championship match, May 23, 2015, the U.S. lost to Canada in five sets, 22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 21-25, 15-17. He again totaled 15 points, this time on 12 spikes and 3 aces.[11]

He is on the U.S. Preliminary Roster for the 2015 FIVB World League.[12] He played in the first World League match against Iran, May 30, 2015, in Los Angeles. He led all scorers with 19 points on 16 kills, two blocks and one ace.[13] During the U.S. broadcast of this match on the NBC Sports Network May 31, 2015,[14] Sander appeared to injure his ankle late in the 3rd set after colliding with a teammate on a block attempt and landing awkwardly. Thomas Jaeschke came in soon afterwards and finished out the set, but Sander returned to play all of the 4th set.

He did not play in the second match against Iran and was not on the roster for the next two matches against Russia.[15][16][17] He also was not on the roster for the matches against Poland June 12 and 13, 2015, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, due to an ankle injury, but did travel and practice with the team.[18] Coach John Speraw mentioned during the press conference following the 2nd match against Poland that he was not sure when Sander would be ready to play again.[19]

He traveled with the team to Iran and was back on the roster for the June 19 and 21 matches played/to be played in Tehran, Iran at the Azadi Stadium.[20] He played the entire 3rd set of the 0-3 (19-25, 27-29, 20-25) loss to Iran June 19, 2015. He scored 5 points on 5 kills from 9 attempts. He also had 1 dig and 4 excellent receptions out of 5 attempts. [21]

He has a stress fracture in his lower shin, not an ankle injury as first thought. This was reported by Blair Lambert June 19, 2015 on his volleyball blog From The Pins after speaking with a family member earlier in the week.

Sporting achievements

College

Clubs

Youth national team

  • 2008 NORCECA U19 Championship
  • 2010 NORCECA U21 Championship

Individual awards

Awards
Preceded by
Ivan Zaytsev
Ricardo Lucarelli
Best Outside Spiker of
FIVB World League

2014
ex aequo Ricardo Lucarelli
Succeeded by
Michał Kubiak
Earvin N'Gapeth
Preceded by
Nikolay Pavlov
Most Valuable Player of
FIVB World League

2014
Succeeded by
Earvin N'Gapeth
Preceded by
Not Awarded
Best Outside Spiker of
FIVB Nations League

2018
ex aequo Dmitry Volkov
Succeeded by
Bartosz Bednorz
Dmitry Volkov
Egor Kliuka

References

  1. Brandon Gurney (January 28, 2012). "5 questions: BYU outside hitter Taylor Sander". DeseretNews.com.
  2. Curtis, Matt (December 7, 2013). "Know the Bro: Men's volleyball star Taylor Sander". Vanquish the Foe. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  3. Drew, Jay (April 30, 2014). "BYU's Taylor Sander earns AVCA Player of the Year honors". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  4. "BYU sweeps California Baptist as Taylor Sander sets program kills record". NCAA. March 23, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  5. Murray, MB (June 11, 2014). "BYU Volleyball: Taylor Sander to play professional volleyball in Italy". Vanquish the Foe. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  6. "USA upset Brazil to claim second World League title". FIVB.org. July 20, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  7. "2014 of the Year Awards: recap". Team USA. January 9, 2015.
  8. "Teams Start Engines for Champions Cup". Team USA. May 20, 2015.
  9. "Team USA Serves Tough to Top Mexico". Team USA. May 21, 2015.
  10. "US Men Qualify for World Cup with Win". Team USA. May 22, 2015.
  11. "Canada Wins Border Battle over US Men". Team USA. May 23, 2015.
  12. "Newcomers Vets Combine on World League Roster". Team USA. April 15, 2015.
  13. "US Surprises Leave Iran at a Loss". Team USA. May 30, 2015.
  14. "Schedule". Team USA. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015.
  15. "US Men Go 2 0 against Iran in World League". Team USA. May 31, 2015.
  16. "US Men Make it Past Russia". Team USA. June 5, 2015.
  17. "US Men Make it 4-0 in World League". Team USA. June 6, 2015.
  18. "US Men Renew Rivalry with Poland". Team USA. June 11, 2015.
  19. 2015 FIVB World League USA Poland Men's Volleyball SATURDAY Press Conference 6 13 2015. YouTube. June 15, 2015.
  20. "US Men in Iran to Play Historic Matches". Team USA. June 18, 2015.
  21. "Iran Sound Wave Sweeps Away U.S. Men". Team USA. June 19, 2015.
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