The first of the spring sports sides to know their postseason fate, the East Providence High School boys' tennis team wrapped up its 2024 Division II regular season over the last week with a pair of victories.

The Townies earned a 5-2 victory over Classical in a meeting of teams chasing a high seed in the upcoming league playoffs last Thursday, May 9, in Providence.

James McShane not only won his 10th consecutive match at one singles for the Townies, but he also handed the Purple's Ethan Montone his first loss in 12 at the time with a 7-5, 6-4 decision.

EP's other points came from John Vaughan's 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win at third singles and a sweep of the three doubles outings. The teams of Jordan O'Hara-Nathan Thurber (6-3, 7-6), Brayden Rouette-Justin Petion (6-2. 4-6, 10-8)and Joe Kramer-Jaydon Massa (7-6, 4-6, 6-2) were winners at 1,2 and 3, respectively.

"It was a great team win. Classical is a really good team," said EPHS head coach Slade Sharma. "We knew it was gonna be a battle but our guys were ready for the test."

The Townies improved to 10-2 at the time while Classical fell to 9-3. Unbeaten East Greenwich has clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming D-II championship tournament.

Reigning champ North Kingstown, by virtue of its win over EP, is the second seed as both sides finished with just two losses.

East Providence locked in its No. 3 position in the playoffs with 7-0 win over Tiverton in their regular season finale at home at the Townie Tennis Center Tuesday afternoon, May 14.

McShane and Abigail Ellison, at second singles, were 6-0, 6-0 winners. Vaughan and Amaral won their contests 0-and-1 and 1-and-1, respectively.

At doubles, O'Hara and Thurber won 6-3 and 6-4. For O'Hara it was his noteworthy 40th career win. The senior has split time playing playing third and fourth singles and first doubles during his EPHS career.

Rouette and Petion added a 6-0, 6-1 victory while Massa and Kramer completed the overall team shutout with a 6-2, 6-4 win.

Only Ellison, a sophomore, and Vaughan, a junior, among EP's 10 starters were not playing their final regular season home match against the Tigers.

The seniors on the roster include Amaral, Kramer, Massa, McShane, Thurber, O'Hara, Petion and Rouette along with Jayden Carlson, Miguel Flores, Boston Lamb, Angel Lucas, Fabricio Mejia Vielman, Anderson Miranda, Brayden, Eddie Silva Ramos and Christian Taveras. In addition, former player turned team manager Will Laroche was also among the seniors recognized prior to the May 14 contest.

Up next, East Providence will face either Prout or Chariho in the quarterfinal round of the D-II playoffs sometime next week. The Townies beat both the Crusaders and Chargers by similar 6-1 scores during their only regular season encounters earlier in the spring.

East Providence is on the same half of the draw as aforementioned defending league champs from NK, setting up a potential meeting in the semis. The Skippers beat the Townies 4-1 in their lone meeting earlier this spring, an outing curtailed by darkness before all seven contests were completed.

Of his team's prospects in the postseason where the Townies would need to win three matches (four points in each) to claim the league title, Sharma said, "I think we stand a chance at winning the whole thing. We’ll see how our guys respond going up against some of these teams that have had success against us. I’m gonna bet on our guys every time. All it takes is four points. We only need 12 more from here out. Let’s see if we can go get them."