Girls Tennis: Posa Looks to Continue Success

Last year, 's Amanda Posa earned a league championship during her eighth grade campaign. This year, as a freshman, she said she is looking to do even better and excel in the Conference III tournament.

Posa also revealed her long-term goal is to qualify for the states.

In last year’s conference tournament, after winning the league tournament, she got eliminated by Horace Greeley standout and Con Ed Scholar Athlete Award winner Rosemary Li.

“I learned that I definitely need to practice more to get to that ability level,” Posa said. “I need to work on my serve more and practice returning serves. If I want to play with people like her, I have to step it up.”

Pleasantville Coach Bob Slotoroff is confident Posa will enjoy another solid campaign this fall. As for whether or not she can become league champion again, that depends on the matchups and being able to avoid Ossining superstar, junior Jamie Loeb.

“I don’t know what’s out there,” Slotoroff said. “If we are in a league with Ossining, with Jamie Loeb, she’s not going to beat her because nobody is going to beat her. If that’s not the case, than all bets are off and I think it’s wide open. Then I think she has as good a chance as repeating as singles champ as anyone I know.”

That’s because Posa has rapidly developed into a solid player since she started playing the sport in seventh grade.

“She is very athletic,” Slotoroff said. “She is very determined. She gets to every shot. She doesn’t give up.”

Posa said one important thing in her development as a player was joining the in the summer of 2010 which preceded the fall she won her league title.

“I’ve learned a lot at the Pleasantville Tennis Club,” Posa said. “I don’t know how I did it, winning a league title as an eighth grader. I just got a lot of practice at the club that summer and I enjoyed playing in the team leagues and taking part in the camp at the club.”

Part of that experience was going against players from other areas.

“I had lessons once a week with a group of people,” Posa said. “Then one day a week we had matches. That helped and also having matches against other towns.”

Posa said what has also been beneficial to her while being a member of the club is the type of instruction she gets from the pros there.

“My instructors have taught me new techniques,” Posa said. “I have gotten better at my serve and return.”

The interesting thing with Posa is that before seventh grade, she was a focused soccer player.

“I actually was playing soccer, but whenever I hit with my mom [Allison], I did pretty good,” Posa said. “That summer [2009], I tried it and I had a lot of fun with tennis. I took a test for the varsity team and passed it. I did really well, I won a lot in seventh grade and that gave me a lot of confidence.”

Posa is hoping her game progresses to the point where she will be able to play tennis in college.

“I would like to go far away, like my sister Jaime, who went to college at the University of Florida and graduated from there in ‘09,” Posa said. “I would to do that to become more independent and be on my own.”

For now though she is more than happy to be playing with her teammates at Pleasantville.

“I have been playing with some of them since last summer at the club,” Posa said. “I am friends with them. They have been all nice to me.”