Eastern Washington University Athletics

The Big Sky Conference Player of the Year in 2004, Sonderen was twice selected as a first team All-Big Sky selection (2003 and 2004), and was honorable mention once (2002). She earned Big Sky Conference All-Tournament honors in both 2003 and 2004. She was also selected to the Big Sky All-Academic team three times and twice selected as Big Sky Player of the Week. Her .333 career hitting percentage ranked third in school history at the time, and now ranks fourth (through 2018 season). She finished with 950 kills to rank seventh at the time and 326 total blocks to rank sixth (now eighth). She also closed her career with 79 service aces and played in 116 total matches. She hit .335 in 2004 and .318 in 2002. She had a career-best 28 kills against Montana State on Nov. 21, 2003, a high of 12 blocks versus Weber State on Nov. 9, 2002, and seven service aces against Northeastern on Sept. 6, 2003. All three of those marks still rank in the top 10 in school history entering the 2018 season, and her 11 block assists against Weber State are a school record. She had at least 20 kills three times in her career, and on nine occasions had at least seven blocks. In four seasons as an Eagle, she helped lead Eastern to three Big Sky Conference regular season titles (2002-04), one Big Sky Tournament crown (2001), a 47-9 (.839) league record and 92-26 (.780) overall mark. She received her Eastern degree in business administration (general management) in 2005. Sonderen was a finalist for Inland Northwest Amateur Female Athlete of the Year. The 2001 and 2002 teams she played on have been inducted into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame. She lives with her two children and husband in Spokane where she serves alongside her brother Matt as co-President and third generation owners of Sonderen Packaging. Her role is to set the vision for the company through strategic direction and purchasing, as well as to further enhance the company culture through internal communication, external marketing, leadership accountability and customer relations. In 2018 she was honored by the Spokane Women in Business Leadership Awards as one of the “Top 12 women to watch” in 2018. From 2015-2019 she was president of a grassroots volleyball-centered non-profit organization called Spike2Care. The mission of Spike2Care is to support individuals in the local volleyball community through fundraising and volunteer efforts that grow the sport of volleyball. Since its inception, Spike2Care and re-distributed over $150,000 to people in need. She and the other recipients were hand-picked for their contributions to the Spokane region through exceptional leadership and generous service to the community.