In college, Brunner competed with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's indoor volleyball team.

2008 saw the first of Brunner's partner swaps, participating in May's Huntington Beach Open with another UCSB teammate, Andy McGuire.

Brunner advanced for the first time out of the qualifying rounds and into the Winners Bracket with Olsen in July's Coney Island Open, falling to John Mayer and Jeff Nygaard.

Unfortunately, the Association of Volleyball Professionals cancelled the remainder of the season right before the 2010 Manhattan Beach Open due to financial difficulty.

[7] Brunner left Greece to join Italian-side Marmi Lanza Verona of the Serie A1 in June 2010[8] and was presented as a player on September 10, 2010.

2013 also marked the rebirth of the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour, which Brunner partnered with Nick Lucena to compete in.

The Brunner/Lucena duo also produced Brunner's first professional tournament win in the 2013 AVP Championships at Huntington Beach on October 20, 2013.

In 2014, Brunner and fellow UC Santa Barbara alum Todd Rogers paired up on a more permanent basis after having played together in 2013.

[21] In 2024, Brunner-Crabb team won the AVP Manhattan Beach Open, defeating 2024 Olympians Andrew Benesh and Miles Partain.