Paige Nicole Sander (; born June 21, 1995) is an American former volleyball player who played in the middle blocker position. Sander played collegiately for

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

from 2013 to 2016 where she was an All-American and was a member of the U.S. national team. With the national team, she won a gold medal at the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and 2018 Pan American Cup, and participated in the

2017 FIVB World Grand Prix The 2017 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was the 25th edition of the annual women's international volleyball tournament played by 32 teams between 7 July and 6 August. The Group 1 Final Round was held in Nanjing, China. Defending champions Brazi ...

tournament.

Personal life

Sander is from

Stewartville, Minnesota Stewartville is a city in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States. Stewartville sits just south of the Rochester International Airport, which is about 10 miles south of the city of Rochester. The population was 6,687 at the 2020 census, and ...

and played volleyball for Stewartville High School. Sander's twin sister, Hannah, also played volleyball with her at Minnesota and the national team. In 2022, she married former men's national team player Brenden Sander.

Career

Minnesota

At Minnesota, Sander began her career in 2013, but seldom played her freshman season, only seeing action in 21 sets. The following season in 2014, Sander was named a Third Team All-American. She played in 110 of 111 possible sets and started in all 31 matches, averaging 1.55 blocks per set and had 171 total blocks. Her season average for blocks and blocks per set ranked second in school history in a single season. She was the nation's third-best blocker and led the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

in blocks per set. She also played with the United States Collegiate Team under former Minnesota Gopher coach Mike Hebert. In 2015, she again played for team USA Volleyball's Collegiate National Team that competed at the

World University Games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

in South Korea. For Minnesota, she started all 35 matches and played in all 129 sets. By season's end, she was second on team in blocks and third in kills and points. Minnesota reached the 2015 NCAA final four and she had 13 kills in the match, but Minnesota would lose to Texas. During her senior season in 2016, Minnesota advanced to its second straight NCAA final four, after she contributed 7 kills in the elite eight win vs.

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. In the final four, she had seven kills and five blocks in the final four semi-final loss versus eventual national champion

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. After concluding her senior season, she became the first-ever University of Minnesota player in any sport to win the

Senior CLASS Award The Senior CLASS Award is awarded to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in 10 NCAA Division I sports. An acronym for "Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School," the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete ...

. She finished her career at Minnesota with 783 kills, 249 digs, and 495 blocks.

U.S. national team

After college, she joined the U.S. senior national team. With the team, she won a gold medal at the

and 2018 Pan American Cup, and participated in the

tournament, placing 5th at the tournament.

Professional clubs

Sander played professional volleyball in Puerto Rico (2016–2017) and Germany (2017–2019). * 2018–2019

German Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

– Gold Medal, with Allianz MTV Stuttgart * 2018–2019

German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundes ...

– Silver Medal, with Allianz MTV Stuttgart * 2017–2018

CEV Cup The CEV Cup is the second tier official competition for men's Volleyball clubs of Europe. The competition takes place every year. Until 2000, it was the CEV Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000 it was renamed to CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 to CEV Cup. T ...

– Bronze Medal, with Allianz MTV Stuttgart * 2017–2018

– Silver Medal, with Allianz MTV Stuttgart * 2017–2018

– Bronze Medal, with Allianz MTV Stuttgart * 2017–2018

German Super Cup The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup or ''German Super Cup'' is a one-off football match in Germany that features the winners of the Bundesliga championship and the DFB-Pokal. The competition is run by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (English: German Footbal ...

– Silver Medal, with Allianz MTV Stuttgart * 2016–2017 Puerto Rican League Championship – Silver Medal, with Valencianas de Juncos

References

External links

Paige Tapp - CEV Bio
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sander, Paige 1995 births Living people People from Stewartville, Minnesota Sportspeople from Minnesota Middle blockers American women's volleyball players Minnesota Golden Gophers women's volleyball players University of Minnesota alumni American expatriate volleyball players in Germany American twins 21st-century American sportswomen