Lafayette sophomore Caroline Pozo won the Class 2 Girls Tennis State championship on Oct. 18, defeating her championship match opponent, Risa Takenaka of Francis Howell North, 6-4, 6-2. She is the first Lancer to win a singles title since Gabriela Demos won the title in 2008.

“It was an accomplishment for me after getting second last year,” Pozo said. “It felt good to do better.”

Pozo attended St. Joseph’s Academy her freshman year, where she took second place in state and received the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Player of the Year award. She transferred to Lafayette when her family moved into the Lafayette school boundaries.

The Lady Lancers tennis team fell in the District round of the team tournament, but Pozo did well enough to advance past the district and sectional rounds to the State tournament, where she defeated Phoebe Boeschen of Rock Bridge 6-1,6-2 in the State semifinal. From there she advanced to the championship match with Takenaka, where Pozo dominated Takenaka in the second set after battling through a tight first set.

“I knew how to beat her because I played her last year,” Pozo said of Takenaka.

Pozo expects to carry her success into next season, saying that she hopes for a championship repeat.