Fatoumata “Fatima” Dacosta enters her first season as the graduate assistant for the VSU Trojans volleyball team.
Prior to her arrival to VSU, Dacosta as the Assistant Volleyball Coach at Earlham College. She helped the team to a successful season finishing 3rd in the conference for the first time in program history with a 20-13 overall record. She helped coach and mentor 2 first team All-Conference, 2 All-freshman team and 2 Honorable-mention players in one season and worked under the HCAC Coach of the year during the same season.
Dacosta is originally from Senegal, a country located in West Africa. She played collegiately at Wiley College (NAIA) for two years as an Outside Hitter, where she was named to the All-Red River Athletic Conference First Team twice and Red River Athletic Conference All-Tournament team in 2013. While at Wiley College, she finished with 349 kills, averaged 3.01 kills per set, a .225 hitting percentage with 3.57 digs per set as a sophomore. As a freshman, she finished the season with 272 kills, averaged 2.5 kills with a .219 hitting percentage and 2.81 digs per set. Dacosta earned NAIA Honorable Mention All-American honors in 2014.
After two seasons at Wiley College, Dacosta transferred to NCAA Division I-member University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).
While at UTRGV, Dacosta helped lead the Vaqueros to a Western Athletic Conference Championship and the program’s first national tournament appearance in 2016 against Texas. In only two seasons at UTRGV, she averaged 3.93 digs per set and ranks fourth among the program’s career leaders. During her senior campaign (2016), she amassed 609 digs to lead the WAC and rank 19th among NCAA statistical leaders. As a libero, she led the team in digs 28 times while reaching double-figures 32 times, including two matches of 30+ digs and 14 matches of 20+ digs. Dacosta earned WAC Academic All-Conference honors in 2016.
Dacosta was a member of the Senegalese national team, competing for the squad in both indoor and outdoor events in 2011, 2013, and 2015.
Dacosta graduated cum laude from UTRGV in 2017 with a degree in accounting. She was a graduate assistant coach at NCAA Division II-member Salem University (W.Va.) during the 2017 season, where she helped guide the Tigers to a 9-24 overall record.
