Taylor Sander | |||||
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Personal information | |||||
Full name | Taylor Lee Sander | ||||
Nickname | The Sandman Prince-Ti-Tey | ||||
Born | Fountain Valley, California, U.S. | March 17, 1992||||
Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||
Weight | 180 lb (80 kg) | ||||
Spike | 141 in (358 cm) | ||||
Block | 130 in (330 cm) | ||||
College / University | Brigham Young University | ||||
Volleyball information | |||||
Position | Outside hitter | ||||
Number | 3 | ||||
Career | |||||
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National team | |||||
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Honours |
Taylor Lee Sander (born March 17, 1992) is an American professional beach volleyball player and former indoor volleyball player. As a member of the U.S. national team, he won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2018 World Championship. The 2014 World League and the 2015 World Cup winner.
Personal life
[edit]Sander is the son of Steven and Kera Sander. He has an older sister 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.[1] 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).[2] 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. While it has not been confirmed that the two divorced, Taylor is public with his relationship with Hannah Tapp, USA volleyball player and middle blocker of the San Diego Mojo Volleyball team.
Career
[edit]Beach Volleyball
[edit]In the summer of 2022, Sander started his professional beach volleyball career with Taylor Crabb. The team won the 2022 AVP Phoenix Open - Sept 24 - 25. Then, two months later, on November 13 2022 Sander and Crabb also won the 2022 AVP Tour Series Huntington Beach Open, having entered the tournament as the #1 seed. They came away with $8,000 in prize winnings.
College
[edit]He was recruited by USC, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, and BYU.[3] 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,[4] 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).[5]
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."[2]
Club
[edit]Sander signed a contract with Verona Volley, an Italian Serie A1 team (top level), on June 10, 2014.[6]
National team
[edit]Sander competed with Team USA in the 2014 FIVB World League. 4th ranked U.S. 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).[7]
He was on the U.S. men's roster for the 2014 FIVB World Championships in Poland, August 30 – September 21, 2014 and was selected as U.S. Volleyball's Men's Team Rookie of the Year.[8]
He was a member of the U.S. team that competed in the 2015 NORCECA Champions Cup in Detroit, Michigan, May 21–23, 2015.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]
He is on the U.S. Preliminary Roster for the 2015 FIVB World League.[13] 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.[14] During the U.S. broadcast of this match on the NBC Sports Network May 31, 2015,[15] 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.[16][17][18] 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.[19] 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.[20]
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.[21] 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.[22]
Honors
[edit]Club
[edit]- FIVB Club World Championship
Poland 2017 – with Cucine Lube Civitanova
- Domestic
- 2016–17
Qatari Cup, with Al Arabi Doha
- 2018–19
Brazilian Cup, with Sada Cruzeiro
- 2016–17
Youth national team
[edit]Individual awards
[edit]- 2012: Pan American Cup – Most valuable player
- 2013: NCAA national championship – All-tournament Team
- 2013: Pan American Cup – Best server
- 2014: AVCA National Player of the Year
- 2014: NCAA national championship – All-tournament team
- 2014: FIVB World League – Most valuable player
- 2014: FIVB World League – Best outside hitter
- 2016: CEV Challenge Cup – Most valuable player
- 2018: FIVB Nations League – Best outside hitter
- 2019: CSV South American Club Championship – Most valuable player
References
[edit]- ^ "Taylor Sander". Team USA. Archived from the original on August 20, 2014. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ a b Gurney, Brandon (January 28, 2012). "5 questions: BYU outside hitter Taylor Sander". Deseret News. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
- ^ Curtis, Matt (December 7, 2013). "Know the Bro: Men's volleyball star Taylor Sander". Vanquish the Foe. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
- ^ Drew, Jay (April 30, 2014). "BYU's Taylor Sander earns AVCA Player of the Year honors". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
- ^ "BYU sweeps California Baptist as Taylor Sander sets program kills record". NCAA. March 23, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
- ^ Murray, MB (June 11, 2014). "BYU Volleyball: Taylor Sander to play professional volleyball in Italy". Vanquish the Foe. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
- ^ "USA upset Brazil to claim second World League title". FIVB.org. July 20, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
- ^ "2014 of the Year Awards: recap". Team USA. January 9, 2015. Archived from the original on January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Teams Start Engines for Champions Cup". Team USA. May 20, 2015. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015.
- ^ "Team USA Serves Tough to Top Mexico". Team USA. May 21, 2015. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015.
- ^ "US Men Qualify for World Cup with Win". Team USA. May 22, 2015. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015.
- ^ "Canada Wins Border Battle over US Men". Team USA. May 23, 2015. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015.
- ^ "Newcomers Vets Combine on World League Roster". Team USA. April 15, 2015. Archived from the original on April 18, 2015.
- ^ "US Surprises Leave Iran at a Loss". Team USA. May 30, 2015. Archived from the original on June 2, 2015.
- ^ "Schedule". Team USA. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015.
- ^ "US Men Go 2 0 against Iran in World League". Team USA. May 31, 2015. Archived from the original on July 1, 2015.
- ^ "US Men Make it Past Russia". Team USA. June 5, 2015. Archived from the original on June 9, 2015.
- ^ "US Men Make it 4-0 in World League". Team USA. June 6, 2015. Archived from the original on June 9, 2015.
- ^ "US Men Renew Rivalry with Poland". Team USA. June 11, 2015. Archived from the original on June 15, 2015.
- ^ 2015 FIVB World League USA Poland Men's Volleyball SATURDAY Press Conference 6 13 2015. YouTube. June 15, 2015.
- ^ "US Men in Iran to Play Historic Matches". Team USA. June 18, 2015. Archived from the original on June 19, 2015.
- ^ "Iran Sound Wave Sweeps Away U.S. Men". Team USA. June 19, 2015. Archived from the original on June 24, 2015.
External links
[edit]- Player profile at TeamUSA.org
- Player profile at the European Volleyball Confederation
- Player profile at LegaVolley.it (in Italian)
- Player profile at PlusLiga.pl (in Polish)
- Player profile at Olympics.com
- Player profile at Olympedia
- Player profile at Volleybox.net
- BYU – Taylor Sander Profile