Volleyball Adds Assistant Coach and a Player Transfer from WVU

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall volleyball head coach Ari Aganus announced the hiring of Tyler Kanelos as an assistant coach and the addition of junior Macy McElhaney from WVU to the Herd family on Tuesday.

"Marshall Volleyball got better the minute Tyler decided to be a part of this program," coach Aganus said. "His work ethic, drive, and pure dedication to this team is unmatched. He is a great balance of our staff, for our team and has a great mind for the game. I am ready and excited to get to working right away."

Kanelos joins Aganus and assistant coach Taylor Strickland to round out the coaching staff.

"I am thrilled to join the staff here at Marshall," Kanelos said. "I'm thankful for the opportunity Ari, her staff and the Marshall administration have given me and I'm excited to hit the ground running with a great group this spring."

Kanelos comes to Marshall after spending the past two seasons as the volunteer assistant at Dayton. In his two years, the Flyers combined to go 45-17 and 25-3 in the Atlantic 10. While working with Dayton, Kanelos was responsible for training the setters and working with the offense. In just two short seasons he trained three AVCA All-Americans, two AVCA Midwest Region Players of the Year, four AVCA All Region athletes, seven All-A10 athletes, six All-A10 Tournament team honorees, the 2018 A10 Libero of the Year, the 2018 and 2019 A10 Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. In 2018, setter Brooke Westbeld finished second in the NCAA in triple doubles and was named an all-American.

The Flyers offense with Kanelos on staff finished with the 13th-ranked team hitting percentage in 2018. Dayton won the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship both years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Along with the setters and the offense, Kanelos was responsible for offensive game planning, film breakdown, scouting using Data Volley, contributing to Dayton's recruiting and coaching at camps and clinics.

Prior to his success at Dayton, Kanelos was an assistant coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith for two seasons and the Lady Lions compiled a 50-13 record during that time as well as back-to-back Heartland Conference regular season titles and one tournament title in 2016. He coached four AVCA Division II All-Americans and nine players earned All-Conference honors. In 2015, Kanelos coached at West Florida and the team was 28-7 overall, claimed the Gulf South Conference regular season title and its 10th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

While in college, he spent one season at Division III Thiel College – where he played volleyball – and then transferred to Lock Haven University in 2012. He joined the women's volleyball staff as a student assistant at Lock Haven and over the next three seasons the Bald Eagles had three-straight 20-win seasons and won two Pennsylvania Athletic Conference East Division titles. Kanelos graduated from Lock Haven University in 2015 with a bachelor's of science degree in sports administration.

"I am very excited about Macy joining our program," coach Aganus said. "From the first moment she stepped on campus, she fit in with everything we're looking to do and build here with Marshall Volleyball. She is a very versatile middle blocker that we expect to be super offensive and push us right away."

McElhaney joins the Herd after spending her freshman and sophomore seasons at West Virginia University. In her two seasons, she played in 32 sets and tallied 30 kills to go along with 16 total blocks. She made her collegiate debut against Wright State in the WVU Invitational (Aug. 25) and had three kills. McElhaney recorded three blocks in a win over Texas Tech, but posted her career-high of five total blocks against Marshall on Nov. 7 of her freshman campaign.

In 2019, McElhaney had a career-high four kills against Arizona and UCLA. The sophomore tallied her season-high of two blocks in her first match of the year against Coppin State.

Prior to her days at WVU, McElhaney was a four-year letterwinner at Beaver Area High School in Beaver, Pa. She helped guide her team to the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) title match two years in a row, snagging the program's first ever championship in her senior year of 2017. She was named first team All-WPIAL three times and was the Beaver County Times Volleyball Player of the Year twice. McElhaney was named to the 2017 Girls Junior National Championships All-Tournament team as well as the 2017 European Global Challenge All-Tournament Team.

For all the latest information about Marshall volleyball, follow @HerdVolleyball on Twitter and Marshall University Volleyball on Facebook.

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Volleyball Adds Assistant Coach and a Player Transfer from WVU

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