NAME: Paul Sanderson (Class of 2020-21)
UNIVERSITY: Brandon
CATEGORY: Student-athlete
SPORT: Men's volleyball
YEARS ACTIVE: 2007-11
HIGHLIGHTS:
2009-10 Canada West and CIS player of the year
CW all-time leader in points/set (6.008) & kills/set (5.179)
Second all-time in CW career aces (144)
Two national medals (bronze – ’08-09 & silver – ’10-11)
BIO:
A product of Melbourne, Australia, Paul Sanderson helped put the Brandon Bobcats on the Canada West men's volleyball map over four standout seasons between 2007 and 2011.
Sanderson played a key role for the Bobcats, who launched their men's volleyball program in 2005. His individual rise helped push the program forward, as evidenced by Brandon's first breakout season nationally in 2008-09, when BU earned a national bronze medal.
That season was followed up with a standout individual campaign for Sanderson in 2009-10, as he earned both the Canada West and CIS player of the year awards. Individual accolades were an annual occurrence for Sanderson while at BU, as he was a first-team conference all-star every season.
In his final year at Brandon in 2010-11, Sanderson played a starring role, as the Bobcats set a new high point for the program. After posting a 10-8 regular season mark to finish fifth, Brandon went on a remarkable Canada West playoff run.
Led by Sanderson's 153 kills in 34 playoff sets, the Bobcats made it all the way to the Canada West championship game, where they fell in five sets to the Calgary Dinos. Brandon would equal their second-place result at the national tournament that season, eventually falling to Trinity Western in the national final.
At the time of his graduation his then conference record of 1,357 career kills stood for five years before being broken in 2016, but what’s amazing is that he did it in four years. Each player ahead of him on the career total kills list all did it in five.
Sanderson remains the CW record holder in career points per set (6.008) and his career average of 5.179 kills per set remains a CW record. That kills per set mark is far beyond the nearest competitor at 4.266, showing Sanderson’s dominance in the competitive Canada West conference.
He also sits second on the all-time aces list at 144 – a record that stood until just last season, when it was eclipsed by Trinity Western's Eric Loeppky (153).
After his time at BU, Sanderson went on to play professionally, and since 2014 has been on the Australian national team, including at the 2018 World Championships.
Written by Evan Daum