With Women’s History Month coming to a close at the end of March, it is important to highlight some of the outstanding female athletes on campus and the stories behind their success.
One athlete who has stood out throughout the year is graduate student Ami Grace Dougah, whose impressive contributions to the women’s tennis team are just a small part of her story.
Dougah was born in Togo, a country of about eight million people in West Africa that lies in between Ghana, Benin and Burkina Faso. Growing up with her family in the U.S., her interest and love of tennis grew.
“I grew up in a tennis household,” Dougah said. “My dad played professionally when he was younger, and then after he retired, he went into coaching. So he’s been coaching me since I was about four years old. I did have some other coaches along the way, but he was my main coach.”
Her dad came over to the United States first before he bought Dougah and the rest of their family over, settling in Atlanta, Georgia. The transition brought new challenges and opportunities to Dougah. She continued to evolve her tennis career in the U.S., but was also adjusting to a new lifestyle and education.
“When I moved over here, school was a big thing,” Dougah said. “I didn’t know English very well and I traveled a lot. I didn’t really play tennis on a team. I played tennis individually, playing tournaments around the country, in states and locals as well, to get ranking. I was ranked pretty high in my state, which allowed me to also play college tennis for my undergrad.”
As an undergraduate student, Dougah attended UNC Asheville, where she excelled over her four years. For each season from 2021-2023, she was named to the All-Big South First Teams for both singles and doubles and earned seven Big South Player of the Week titles. She excelled in her senior season, being named the 2023 Big South Conference Player of the Year and the 2023 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete. She was also nominated for the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year title.
After completing her undergraduate degree, Dougah had to make a decision on her future career as a tennis player but, more importantly, her future career in the professional world. For her graduate studies, Dougah had her sights set on Villanova.
“It was a big decision,” Dougah said. “I had to decide whether I wanted to stay for my undergrad for the fifth year, or come to Villanova. I felt like for my undergrad I was mostly doing a balance of both tennis and academics, but I saw myself leaning towards more sports. So I chose Villanova mainly because of its finance program. It also was just a one-year program, which I loved. I find finance intriguing and when I first came to visit, I just knew it was a great decision for me to open a new chapter in my life.”
Although her choice of Villanova mainly focused around its academics, her ability to play tennis as a Wildcat was another plus, as she was not yet ready to stop playing the sport she loves.
“I always knew it was going to be a fact for me to play tennis,” Dougah said. “It’s really hard at the moment to imagine myself kind of just putting the racket down and just going to school. I don’t really want to put the racket down anytime soon. So that’s why I just continued to be a student athlete for my final year.”
As a Wildcat, Dougah has excelled. Starting off in the fall with her perfect performance at the Villanova Invitational and then in the spring with her standout skills against Brown and Bucknell, Dougah has cemented herself as one of the best tennis players Villanova has ever had.
“I mean, I thought she was going to be good, but I didn’t realize she was going to be that good,” head coach Steve Reiniger said to The Villanovan. “The way she represents our school on the court is outstanding and [she] is unfazed by anything. She is a true leader.”
Moving forward, besides trying to get her foot in the door with a career in a finance-related field after finishing her degree this year, Dougah also intends to play more tennis, whether that be in the U.S. or even possibly representing her home country of Togo on the world stage.
“I intend to play a little bit more after I graduate,” Dougah said. “Whether it’s going on the pro tour or just playing for my country in general when trying to play for the Olympics. I’m actually, for next year, going to play the African games for my country. The winners get to go to the Olympics. So I’m pretty excited about that, but I won’t really know until after graduation and during the summertime.”
