BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Following an extensive national search, Bakersfield Director of Athletics Jeff Konya has announced that former Arizona State assistant and current Western Nebraska Community College head coach Giovana Melo has been selected as the Director of Volleyball for the Bakersfield Roadrunners pending contractual approval by the CSU Chancellor’s office. Melo will be the head coach of Roadrunner volleyball in the fall and will oversee the sand volleyball program operations in the spring season.
Melo has been wildly successful as a head coach in six years at Western Nebraska, where her teams have reached five National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Final Fours and won the 2010 NJCAA National Championship. Her teams also won six Region IX championships while she posted a career record of 262-20 in six seasons.
As a head coach, Melo has earned an impressive list of accolades while at Western Nebraska being named Region IX Coach of the Year five times in six seasons, District J Coach of the Year six times, American Volleyball Coaches Association Two-Year College West Region Coach of the Year four times along with receiving the AVCA 30 Under 30 Award list three times. She was also named Omaha World Herald Midland Coach of the Year in 2011.
An outstanding recruiter with international ties, three current Roadrunners – Danika Youngblood, along with 2013 first team All-WAC honorees Fernanda Gonçalves and Debora Araujo – played for Melo at Western Nebraska. Araujo and Gonçalves were members of the 2010 National Championship team.
Melo played collegiately as a setter at Arizona State, where she was a two-year starter for the Sun Devils and a team captain as a senior. She earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from ASU and her master’s degree in higher and post-secondary education.