Viera Chosen to Lead Montreat Volleyball Program
(Story provided by Montreat Sports Communications)
MONTREAT, N.C.— The Montreat College athletic department selected Cristina Viera to steer the Montreat volleyball program as the head volleyball coach last month.
Viera comes to North Carolina following two assistant coaching positions in Massachusetts. Most recently, she coached at Babson College for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. During that span, the Beavers ended each regular season as the NEWMAC runner-up and made the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Three players were named AVCA Honorable Mention All-American, four were AVCA All-Region, and as many claimed all-conference accolades.
"I'm thrilled and humbled to be appointed as the head volleyball coach at Montreat College," said Viera of her hiring. "This is an incredible opportunity, and I'm excited to embark on this journey with such a supportive community."
Prior to helping at Babson, Viera assisted at Smith College from 2019 through 2022. While at Smith, athletes notched several New England Women's Volleyball Coaches' Association (NEWVA) Third Team selections, NEWVA Honorable Mention Team honors, and NEWVA All-Rookie Team awards.
In 2018, Viera acted as an assistant coach and head JV coach for Johnson-Brock Public School in Nebraska, where the team was the state runner-up. She began her coaching career as the head coach of the developmental team of Club Social y Deportivo Juan Ferreira in her hometown of Montevideo, Uruguay from 2012 to 2014.
"We are extremely excited for Cristina to lead our volleyball program. Her experience both coaching collegiately and at the club level really stood out early in the hiring process, but as things continued to develop her overall passion and commitment to caring for student-athletes holistically as they develop and grow as student-athletes really set her apart from other candidates," noted Director of Athletics Garrett Jones.
Before coaching, Viera played with the Uruguayan National Volleyball Team from 2010 through 2014. She then attended Cameron University for two years, breaking the program's single-game dig record (45) in 2015. Following her time at Cameron, Viera moved on to Peru State for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. While at Peru State, Viera amassed a plethora of honors, including Omaha World-Herald All-Nebraska NAIA First Team (x2), Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball All-America Third Team (2016), Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball All-America Honorable Mention (2017), AVCA All-American Honorable Mention (2017), Heart of America Conference Co-Defender of the Year (2017), AVCA-NAIA Midwest Region Libero of the Year (x2), AVCA-NAIA Midwest Region First Team (x2), Heart of America Conference Defender of the Week (x5) and First Team All-Heart of America (x2).
"My commitment is to guide and mentor our players, nurturing not just their skills but also their character and resilience. Together, we'll foster an environment where every athlete can flourish, both athletically and personally. With God's grace and our collective effort, I'm confident that we'll achieve remarkable success," Viera added.
Viera graduated with an exercise science degree from Peru State in 2018 before earning her masters in exercise and sport studies from Smith in May of 2021.