Giovana Melo enters her tenth season as Head Coach at CSU Bakersfield in fall of 2023. She came to Bakersfield before the start of the 2014 season after enjoying great success at Western Nebraska Community College. Melo also oversaw the Roadrunner beach volleyball program in her first several seasons, but solely focuses on the indoor squad now.
In her first seven years at the helm of CSUB, Melo has led the indoor volleyball program to a pair of Western Athletic Conference Tournament titles (2014, 2017), two NCAA Tournament appearances (2014, 2017), and an NIVC postseason appearance (2021). Along the way, she has accumulated a record of 103-105 record (.495) including an 18-11 record in 2021. Melo has seen 16 student-athletes named to All-Conference teams while 29 have earned Academic All-Conference honors.
Melo guided the Roadrunners to the program’s first NCAA Division I Tournament appearance in her first season after CSUB took home the team’s first WAC Tournament title in 2014. The ‘Runners dropped just one set in three WAC Tournament matches. Melo's team was 16-15 on the year and played Stanford in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
In 2015, the Roadrunners finished second in the WAC with a 10-4 league record and advanced to the WAC Tournament finals where CSUB dropped a 3-0 decision to NM State. Two players, Luiza Martins and Kelsee Sawyer, earned First Team All-Conference honors while Carol Grasso was selected to the Second Team.
In her third season, Melo led the Roadrunners to a 15-14 record and a 10-4 mark in the WAC as CSUB advanced to the WAC Tournament semifinals. Melo coached Carol Grasso to earn the program’s first WAC Player of the Year honor. Sydney Haynes was also named Second Team All-Conference under Melo's watch in 2016.
The 2017 season featured Melo's second WAC Tournament title and second trip to the NCAA Tournament, where the `Runners again faced Stanford in the first round. Along the way, CSUB posted a 19-14 record (9-5 WAC), its best result in Melo's Bakersfield tenure. Two `Runners, Sydney Haynes and Haylee Roberts, were named Second Team All-Conference.
The `Runners got hot in the middle of the 2018 campaign, putting together a seven-game overall win streak as well as an eight-game home win streak. Although it finished with a 14-16 record, Melo’s squad was a defensive force at the net with Brooke Boiseau and Mattison DeGarmo ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in CSUB’s Division I single-season records for total blocks. In 2019, Boiseau earned Second Team All-WAC honors while Hana Makonova earned a nod on the league’s All-Freshman Team.
After the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 season, the `Runners returned to the court for their first season in the Big West Conference in 2021. CSUB far exceeded the preseason poll prediction of finishing ninth of eleven teams by earning fourth place in the Big West standings. The `Runners accepted an invitation to the NIVC, marking the third postseason appearance in Melo’s tenure. Setter Seleisa Elisaia earned a First Team All-Big West nod while Hayley McCluskey and Brooke Boiseau took home Honorable Mention honors.
Melo was wildly successful as a head coach in six years at Western Nebraska Community College where her teams reached five NJCAA Division I final fours and won the 2010 NJCAA national championship. Her teams won six Region IX championships while posting a career record of 262-20.
Melo earned an impressive list of accolades while at Western Nebraska. She was named Region IX Coach of the Year five times, 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 being named to 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, six former Roadrunners, including Danika Youngblood, Luiza Martins, Fernanda Goncalves, and Debora Araujo, played for Melo at Western Nebraska. Araujo and Goncalves were members of the 2010 National Championship team at WNCC before earning first team All-Conference honors at CSUB in 2013. Martins was selected second team All-Conference and was named to the All-WAC Tournament team in 2014.
Melo began her collegiate playing career at Western Nebraska before transferring to Arizona State. Melo was a two-year starter at setter for the Sun Devils and served as a team captain as a senior. Melo would begin her coaching career at Arizona State, serving as an assistant coach for three years.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from Arizona State and her Master’s Degree of Higher and Post-Secondary Education at ASU.
A native of Brazil, Melo lives in Bakersfield with her wife, Trisha Lacey. The couple are the proud parents of two children, Eva and Leo.
