LINCOLN — The East Providence High School girls' tennis team will play for the Division III championship after the Townies dispatched a pesky Cranston East side, 4-2, in the semifinals under the lights at the Lincoln High School courts on a brisk early Wednesday evening, Oct. 26.

East Providence, the top seed from III-A with a 17-1 record including a quarterfinal win over Scituate October 25, swept the three doubles matches Wednesday and also received a victory from Mary McBride at fourth singles. Lillian Conti split two sets at third singles while Tess Amore and Victoria Luchi lost their outings at first and second singles, respectively.

The Townies, who defeated the third-seeded Thunderbolts (13-5) by the same 5-2 scores in two regular season meetings, found themselves tied after the teams of Meg Amore-Tess Lyons at first dubs and Emily Ramsey-Madison Turner at the third spot won their matches while Tess Amore and Luchi were defeated in straight sets.

McBride, however, was next off the court with a win at fourth singles to leave the locals within a point of the overall team victory. That was then provided by the No. 2 tandem of Rachel LaValley-Jessica Costello, who needed three sets to secure the Townies' place in the final.

Unbeaten and III-B regular season champion Classical awaits East Providence in the championship round Saturday morning, Oct. 29, at Slater Park. The match begins at 10 a.m.

The Purple improved to 18-0 in league matches to date the fall after they defeated Middletown, the second seed from III-A, 4-2 in their semifinal matched also played at Lincoln earlier Wednesday afternoon.

The Townies and Classical did not meet during the regular season. The Purple swept Tiverton, 4-0, in their quarterfinal match on October 25. E.P. also had little difficulty sweeping the Tigers, 7-0, in both of their regular season contests. The Townies also split two matches with Middletown, winning and losing by the same 4-3 scores.

East Providence played in its third championship match. The Townies contested the D-III title back in 1992, narrowly losing to unbeaten Rogers, 4-3, they then won the league championship the following season over Scituate. Since 2000, E.P. has advanced as far as the D-III semifinals twice, losing there in 2006 and 2014.

Classical, a one-time power in D-II, last reached the championship round in that grouping in 2012 before losing to Portsmouth. The Purple were back-to-back D-II champs in 2006 and 2007. Classical last made the playoffs in 2013 while still in D-II before going 1-25 the last two regular seasons and dropping down to D-III this fall during the most recent realignment by the Interscholastic League.