Taylor Sander Athlete Profile - MVLB

Taylor Sander

Outside Hitter #15

Class

Senior

Hometown

Huntington Beach,

California

Last School

Norco High School

Roster Years

2011-2014

Summary

Four-time AVCA All-American (three first-team citations, one second-team citation)
2014 AVCA Player of the Year
2013 and 2014 MPSF Player of the Year
2013 and 2014 MPSF Tournament MVP
Four-time All-MPSF First Team
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)
Led BYU to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances (finishing in the finals in 2013 and semifinals in 2014) and four-straight MPSF tournament appearances
Helped the Cougars win back-to-back MPSF regular-season titles (2013 and 2014) and back-to-back MPSF tournament titles (2013 and 2014)

Personal

Son of Steven and Kera Sander
Has one sister and one brother, who will join the Cougars in 2015
Majoring in global studies
Enjoys basketball, wakeboarding, golf and dancing
Sports hero is Michael Jordan because he worked hard to become the best at his sport
Non-athlete heros are his parents for giving him all the chances he gets in life and for their support
Recruited by UC Santa Barbara, USC, Hawaii, UC Irvine and Long Beach State

Before BYU

High School:

Four-year letterwinner at Norco High School under head coach Matt Survillas
2006-07 Mountain View League: first team All-League
2007-08 Mountain View League: All-League MVP and Inland Empire All-Tournament team
2008-09 Big VIII All-League MVP and Inland Empire All-Tournament team and CIF DIII Player of the Year
2009-10 Big VIII All-League MVP and Inland Empire All-Tournament team and CIF DIII Player of the Year
Two time DII State second-place finish

Club:

Summer 2008 first place gold at NORCECA in Florida for 19U Boys Youth National Team USA
Summer 2009 tenth-place finish in Italy at World Youth Tournament with 19U Boys Youth National Team USA - Team Captain
Summer 2010 first-place gold at NORCECA in Quebec, Canada for 21U Men's Junior National Team USA
Won every junior beach tournament with partner John Caroompas from 14-18 years old
2007 AAU junior beach Player of the Year
2007 & 2008 CBVA Beach Champions with John Caroompas
2010 named to A1 National Team to compete in Portugal but stepped down to focus fully on indoor men's Junior National Team
Played on the Orange Coast Volleyball Club under coaches Miguel Monterola, Chris Shay and Dave Kniffin
2005-06 14U junior nationals third-place finish
2006-07 15U junior nationals All-Tournament team
2007-08 16U junior nationals third-place finish
2008-09 17U junior nationals All-Tournament team, fifth-place finish
2009-10 18U junior nationals All-Tournament team, third-place finish
MVP at the 2012 Pan American Cup in the Dominican Republic, where he helped U.S. men's volleyball team win gold

BYU Hall of Fame

Freshman Year 2011

Named MPSF Freshman of the Year
AVCA All-America Second Team
MPSF All-Freshman Team
All-MPSF First Team
Played in 93 sets and started 24 matches
Tallied 341 kills for second most on the team, 684 attemps, 20 assists, a team-high 41 service aces, 120 digs and 73 total blocks
Competed the summer after his freshman year with the US Junior National Team

Sophmore Year 2012

Named to the AVCA All-America First Team
Named to the All-MPSF First Team
Named MPSF Player of the Week on Jan. 16 and Jan. 23
Named AVCA National Player of the Week on Jan. 17
Played in 89 sets and 23 matches, started all 23
Missed 6 weeks with injury to right hand
Finished the season with a team-high 435 kills, 812 attempts and a .395 hitting percentage
Had 12 matches with 20+ kills
Also contributed 28 assists, a team-high 44 aces (second-most in the Rally Scoring Era for a single season), 120 digs and 69 blocks
Season-high 28 kills came on Jan. 6 against Loyola-Chicago
Season-high .750 hitting percentage came on Mar. 29 against Cal State Northridge
Season-high 6 aces came on Apr. 6 against UCLA (third-most in the Rally Scoring Era for a single match)
Season-high 10 digs came on Apr. 26 against Stanford in the MPSF Semifinals
Season-high 7 blocks came on Apr. 21 against Long Beach State in the MPSF Quarterfinals
Played the summer after his sophomore season with the USA Men's National Team

Junior Year 2013

AVCA first-team All-American
Volleyball Magazine All-America First Team and Player of the Year
MPSF Player of the Year and All-MPSF First Team
MPSF All-Tournament MVP
NCAA All-Tournament team
Off the Block Preseason All-American
Named the AVCA National Player of the Week on Jan. 21
Broke the BYU service aces record in the modern rally era (Jan. 19) and all-time aces record (Mar. 9) in less than three years
Broke 1,000 career points in the beginning of his junior year
Started every match and played in every set
Finished the season with 461 kills, 42 aces, 178 digs and 93 total blocks
Led the team in kills, attempts, aces and digs
Recorded double-digit kills in the first 12 matches of the year and 29 total (out of 31)
Recorded 23 kills at #10 USC Feb. 16 while hiting .543 and adding 10 digs for his first double-double of the season
Recorded three double-doubles during the season
Set a season-high 25 kills and tied a career-high 7 blocks vs. #5 Stanford Feb. 23
Career-high 14 digs at #1 UC Irvine Mar. 1
Tied a career-high .750 hitting percentage vs. #12 Cal Baptist Mar. 8

Senior Year 2014

AVCA Player of the Year
AVCA first-team All-American
MPSF Player of the Year
All-MPSF First Team
Off the Block Preseason All-American
Started all 30 matches for the Cougars
Played in 110 of 113 sets this season
MPSF Player of the Week twice (Jan. 13, Mar. 31)
AVCA Player of the Week (Apr. 1)
NCAA all-tournament selection
MPSF tournament MVP and all-tournament selection
Led the nation in points per set with 5.48
No. 2 nationally in kills per set (4.60) and No. 5 nationally in aces per set (.50)
Recorded 15 kills, 4 aces, 3 digs at No. 10 Lewis (Jan. 4)
Had 14 kills on .346 hitting, two aces, three digs vs. Cal State Northridge (Jan. 10)
Recorded 24 kills, .362 hit clip, 11 digs, two blocks, two aces vs. No. 1 Logn Beach State (Jan. 11)
Had 25 kills, nine digs, four blocks at No. 7 UC Irvine (Jan. 17)
Had career-high nine service aces, a BYU all-time record and third most in MPSF history, at UC San Diego (Jan. 18); also had 13 kills on .375 hitting
Had 18 kills on .389 clip, seven digs, five blocks vs. No. 6 Stanford (Jan. 24)
Recorded 12 kills on .706 hit clip (season high), three blocks vs. Pacific (Jan. 25)
Had 19 kills, .308 clip, eight digs, six blocks at No. 3 Pepperdine (Jan. 31)
Had 27 kills on .417 clip, two aces, six digs, four blocks at No. 8 Stanford (Feb. 15)
Had 15 kills, four aces, seven digs, three blocks vs. No. 7 USC (Feb. 28)
Had 18 kills, six digs, six blocks vs. No. 4 Pepperdine (Mar. 1)
Had 24 kills, 11 digs, four blocks at No. 3 Long Beach State (Mar. 7)
Had 13 kills, four assists (season high), four digs, four blocks at Cal State Northridge (Mar. 8)
Had 19 kills, .424 clip, four digs, three blocks vs. No. 8 UC Irvine (Mar. 14)
Had 13 kills, breaking the BYU rally-scoring career kills record, .429 clip, four digs, three blocks vs. Cal Baptist (Mar. 22)
Had 27 kills, .477 clip, eight block assists (career high) vs. No. 5 UCSB (Mar. 28)
Had 23 kills, .526 clip, four digs, three blocks vs. No. 9 UCLA (Mar. 29)
Had 16 kills, 12 digs at No. 10 Hawai'i (Apr. 4)
Recorded 15 kills, eight digs at No. 5 UC Santa Barbara (Apr. 11)
Recorded 15 kills, hitting .500, four digs, two blocks vs. UC Santa Barbara in MPSF semifinals (Apr. 24)
Had 15 kills, two aces, three blocks vs. Stanford in MPSF final (Apr. 26)
Had season-high 28 kills hitting .375, four aces, four digs vs. Stanford in NCAA semifinals (May 1)
Totaled 506 kills, 1,021 attempts, .338 hitting percentage, 32 assists, 55 aces (BYU record), 168 digs and 81 blocks (two solo) on the season