Gandara Completes 2018 Volleyball Staff
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami head volleyball coach Jose “Keno” Gandara announced the additions of Kelly Palma and Lucas Yanez to the Hurricane volleyball staff Friday.
Palma will be Miami’s director of volleyball operations, while Yanez will serve as the volunteer assistant coach in 2018. Both come to Miami with a wealth of Division I experience.
“We are really excited to welcome Kelly and Lucas to our staff,” Gandara said. “Kelly and Lucas are both great people and are coming in with incredible experience and skill sets, but what we like most about them is their work ethic and their desire to teach. Their eagerness to help our student-athletes is something we value highly here at Miami.”
Palma joins the Canes after spending two seasons at UCF. Palma was the volunteer assistant for the Knights in 2016 before earning a promotion to director of operations in May of 2017. As director of operation, she served as the Knights’ point of contact for travel, arranged meals and provided live stats using DataVolley to the coaching staff. Palma also helped with recruiting efforts and served as a camp director for all six individual volleyball summer camps at UCF and two team camps, where she organized the execution of all aspects of the camp.
“Kelly will have a great opportunity to impact our players and program in so many ways in this non-coaching position,” Gandara said. “This position will be instrumental to our program and we are thrilled to have someone of Kelly’s caliber join our staff, while also serving as our video and statistics coordinator.”
In addition to her work with UCF, Palma served as a coach at the Orlando Tampa Volleyball Academy. Before joining the Knights, Palma was the assistant coach at Montclair State University for a season, guiding the Red Hawks to a 23-11 season.
Palma played college volleyball for Seton Hall from 2010 to 2013. A native of Stamford, Conn., she completed her bachelor’s degree in biology from Seton Hall in 2013 and earned her master’s degree in sports administration and coaching from Montclair State in 2016.
Yanez joins the Canes staff with three years of collegiate coaching experience in both men’s and women’s volleyball. In 2018, Yanez helped the Benedictine University men’s volleyball team to a 21-6 record and a co-conference championship in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.
Prior to Benedictine, Yanez spent one season as an assistant coach with the Coastal Carolina women’s volleyball team, helping the Chanticleers to a 28-5 record, a first-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference and a second-round appearance in the 2016 NCAA tournament. Along with coaching and skill development, Yanez was heavily involved in recruiting and game strategy.
Yanez first stepped onto the Division I coaching scene at the University of Kansas, serving as the Jayhawks’ volunteer coach in 2015. While at Kansas, Yanez primarily worked with the liberos and defensive specialists and helped produce the second-best defense in opponent hitting percentage in the Big 12 and third in digs per set. Kansas went on to a Final Four appearance at the 2015 NCAA Tournament and a 30-3 overall record.
“Lucas comes to our program with a lot of experience after working at Kansas and Coastal Carolina,” Gandara said. “He will be a huge asset in the gym with his knowledge and passion for teaching.”
Along with his coaching experience, Yanez amassed numerous accolades as a player at Lewis University. Yanez was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s (AVCA) All-America second team, Volleyball Magazine All-America second team and was All-MIVA first team. He tied the record for most digs in an NCAA Championship match with 15 against Loyola.
Yanez graduated from Lewis University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management and earned All-Academic MIVA Conference recognition in 2014 and 2015.
For all the latest information on Miami Hurricanes volleyball, follow the official Twitter feed, @CanesVB, or “Like Us” on Facebook at facebook.com/UMVolleyball. The program is also on Instagram.
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