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A club and high school coach who guided his teams to multiple championships and an outside attacker who trained with the U.S. Men’s Junior National Team will join the Grand Canyon coaching staff.
Grand Canyon head coach Matt Werle announced earlier this week that he hired Troy Dueling as an assistant coach and AJ Nally as a graduate assistant coach for the 2017 season.
Dueling served as a head coach for the Arizona volleyball club AZ Fear since 2009 and guided his team’s to three bronze-medal finishes at the Junior Olympics and nine Gold Region championships. He also has been the head coach at Boulder Creek and led the high school team to two Arizona state championships in almost a decade of coaching at the school.
Along with his coaching experience, Dueling spent four years serving in the United States Air Force. In addition, he was named the Arizona Republic Arizona Boys’ Volleyball Coach of the Year in 2014.
“I am very excited to have Troy as my right-hand man,” Werle said in a statement. “He has a genuine passion for the sport and will be the driving force behind our recruiting strategy. Troy and I have worked together for almost five years and understand each other very well. Our strengths complement each other very well. I know that Troy will immediately be one of the top assistants in college volleyball because of his dedication to the program and the individuals involved.”
Nally spent five years playing professional volleyball in Europe. The outside attacker also trained with the U.S. Men’s National Team and was named the captain of the United States for the 2015 Pan American Games.
While in college, Nally led Springfield to two Molten Division III national championships and was selected as the 2010 Division III National Player of the Year.
“AJ and I have a very unique relationship,” Werle said. “We competed as rivals for three years as college athletes. I have so much respect for AJ as a player and scholar of the game. He will walk into our gym and immediately have respect because of his experiences playing. AJ’s in-game knowledge as an outside hitter and libero will benefit us greatly.”
Werle made both these coaching hires after the school announced in May that he would remain the team’s head coach.
Grand Canyon with Werle as its interim head coach last season finished in fifth place in the MIVA and reached the conference tournament quarterfinals. The Antelopes return a majority of starters for the upcoming season, including all-conference outside attacker Shalev Saada.