Hall of Fame
From the 2014 Hall of Fame program:
A national champion, a two-time National Player of the Year, an Olympic gold medalist – there’s not much that Sean Rooney hasn’t accomplished in the sport of volleyball.
Before arriving at Pepperdine, Rooney earned Illinois state player of the year honors at Wheaton South High School, while also winning a pair of AAU national championships and competing on the U.S. Junior National Team.
Rooney’s outstanding four years in Malibu began with National Freshman of the Year honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association in 2002, which was followed by National Player of the Year honors from Volleyball Magazine in 2004, and National Player of the Year awards from both the AVCA and Volleyball Magazine in 2005.
Rooney was also named the Most Valuable Player of the 2005 NCAA Tournament after leading the Waves to their fifth title. He averaged 5.62 kills per set as Pepperdine defeated Ohio State and host UCLA for the crown.
Rooney led the Waves in kills all four years, and his total of 2,007 ranks fourth all-time in school history. Among the Waves’ career records, he’s also first in sets played (434), fourth in points (2,332.5), sixth in kills per set (4.62), sixth in service aces (131), seventh in digs (69) and eighth in hitting percentage (.383).
In the rally-scoring era, Rooney holds four of the top seven spots on Pepperdine’s single-season kills list, with a career-high 556 in 2005 that ranks third. Also in the rally-scoring era, he set a single-match record with 44.5 points against Pacific in 2005 (and had a career-high 36 kills in that match).
Rooney also claimed multiple Mountain Pacific Sports Federation awards, including 2005 Player of the Year, 2002 Freshman of the Year, three-time All-Conference first team and three time All-Academic honors. In 2007, he was named to the MPSF’s 15th anniversary first team.
During Rooney’s four seasons, the Waves finished no worse than fourth in the national rankings and had a combined record of 97-22 (.815). The 97 wins are the most in any four-year period in program history. The Waves won three MPSF regular-season titles, two MPSF Tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Championships a total of three times.
In 2003, he played with the U.S. World University Games team that won a bronze medal in South Korea.
After graduating from Pepperdine in 2005 with a degree in business administration, Rooney played both on the beach and overseas before earning a spot with the U.S. National Team in 2007, and has been a regular part of the team since then.
In 2008, he was named “Best Spiker” at the NORCECA Continental Olympic Qualifying tournament, and then was part of the U.S. gold-medal-winning team in Beijing. In 2009, he was named USA Volleyball’s Male Indoor Player of the Year. Rooney made his second Olympic team in 2012, and the Americans reached the quarterfinals in London. He also won gold medals with the U.S. in the 2008 and 2014 FIVB World League (and was team captain in 2014).
He and his wife Valerie reside in Huntington Beach, California. They are expecting their first child in November.
