A former setter at Park University in Parkville, Mo., Juliana Melo begins her first season as a graduate assistant coach at New Haven. Prior to transferring to Park in 2013, Melo competed for two seasons at Barton County Community College in Grean Bend, Kan.
At Barton, Melo was a pair of back-to-back Jayhawk West conference titles and consecutive Region VI Championships that secured spots in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I National Tournament. During her tenure at Barton, she was also named a First Team All-Conference recipient following the 2011 season.
In her first season at Park, Melo finished with 1,287 assists as the primary setter, earning a spot on the All-American Midwest Conference First Team. Her assists finished the season ranked 23rd among National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Setters, while she set her season-high with an impressive 54 sets in pool play of the NAIA tournament against Trinity Christian College.
In her final season, she finished with a career-high 1,377 assists, while adding 141 kills and 320 digs, third most on the team. She helped lead the Pirates to a perfect 40-0 record, defeating the University of Texas at Brownsville in straight sets to win the 2014 NAIA National Championship.
Following her collegiate career, Barros went on to play professionally in her native Brazil.
