MALIBU, Calif. – Pepperdine men’s volleyball All-American and Australian National Team player Paul Carroll earned a notable accomplishment earlier this week, as Volleyball Australia honored him with the 2008 Ted Kalkhoven Award as the nation’s Top Male Player.
Here is the write-up from Volleyball Australia on Carroll’s National Team career:
“This year’s award recipient, Paul Carroll, made his Australian debut as a junior as part of the team for the 2004 Asian Junior Championships. He has been a member of Australian Men’s Team since 2005, making his senior debut in 2006. Carroll was part of the first Australian team to win the Asian Championships and the Commonwealth Volleyball Championships in 2007. Competing at the 2007 World Cup in Japan, Paul was one of the top scorers at the tournament, finishing second among all players with 183 kills.”
The award is named for Ted Kalkhoven, who was a regular player on Victorian State League and State Representative Teams in the 1970s and 1980s and reached his goal of captaincy of the Australian Men’s Team in 1985. He played a total of 48 international matches for Australia before a tragic road accident took his life in 1987. The Award named after him recognized the significant achievements of Australia’s male indoor players.
Carroll, who hails from Forster, Australia, is heading into his senior year at Pepperdine. He is already a two-time All-American first team selection. He ranks seventh all-time in kills at Pepperdine and helped the Waves to a second-place national finish in 2008.
Carroll was unable to attend the awards ceremony because the Waves were competing at the preseason Can-Am Challenge at the University of Alberta. Four American universities (Pepperdine, USC, Stanford and IPFW) competed head-to-head against four Canadian universities in the annual event.
The Waves defeated Montreal and Trinity Western but lost to Saskatchewan and Alberta. Overall, the U.S. schools won the event by a 10-6 score.
Carroll and sophomore outside hitter Cory Riecks (Auburn, Calif./Placer HS) made the all-tournament team.
