‘Surprising’ Townies near end of another top-notch tennis regular season

EPHS girls’ team finishes slate once again among Division III’s best

By Mike Rego
Posted 10/18/17

EAST PROVIDENCE — Count the members of the East Providence High School girls’ tennis team as among those a bit amazed by the Townies’ performance to date in 2017, a campaign that has seen the …

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‘Surprising’ Townies near end of another top-notch tennis regular season

EPHS girls’ team finishes slate once again among Division III’s best

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — Count the members of the East Providence High School girls’ tennis team as among those a bit amazed by the Townies’ performance to date in 2017, a campaign that has seen the locals compete at nearly the same level they did a year ago en route to winning the Division III championship.

East Providence completed the home portion of its regular season schedule on October 16 with a 7-0 victory over neighbor Providence Country Day in a crossover contest with the Knights of Division III-B, improving to 14-2 in the III-A standings with just one match left in its regular slate.

E.P. received victories, in order, from Mary McBride, Lillian Conti, Jessica Costello and Meg Amore in singles along with the doubles pairings of Raissa Luu-Emily Ramsey, Madison Turner-Rose Lawrence and Blake Trowbridge-Skyla DaSilva.

The hosts won four of the seven matches on what was a chilly, breezy overcast Monday afternoon by straight sets. Costello (6-0, 6-1), Amore (1-and-0) and Conti (2-and-1) completed their solo victories in quick succession. Luu and Ramsey, likewise, made fast work (0-and-1) of their opponents at first dubs. Only McBride was pushed, needing three sets to defeat PCD’s Sara Brosofsky at the No. 1 position 5-7, 6-2 and 6-4. E.P. received forfeits at second and third doubles.

East Providence celebrated Senior Day against the Knights. Among those Class of 2018 graduates recognized were McBride, Conti, Costello, Turner, Lawrence, Ramsey, Trowbridge and Ashley Shankar.

Team awards were also handed out during the prematch festivities. Costello, who improved her individual record to 16-0, was chosen as the team’s most valuable player while Amore, a sophomore, received the Townie Award for overall contributions to the team.

“No, not really, I just try to concentrate on playing,” Costello, who also went 17-0 at two doubles with partner Rachael LaValley last year, said when asked if she’s conscious of her unblemished mark at third singles so far this fall.

McBride, Conti, Costello, Amore and Ramsey were the only returning regulars to the Townies this fall, a year after East Providence shared first place in the III-A regular season standings with Middletown. Though each side finished with identical 15-1 records in 2016, the Townies were the higher seed in the playoffs due to tiebreaker used, total combined sets won. E.P.’s lone losses to date this fall were to III-B leading North Providence (15-1) by a 5-2 count in their season opener and a 4-3 decision two weeks ago against Cranston East (12-4), currently fifth in the tightly-bunch top half of the III-A standings.

“We all pretty much work together. There’s no one person who leads the whole team. We all listen to each other,” Costello said of the changing roles for the returning players this fall.

Of her team’s performance to date, Costello, in only her second year of playing tennis at the varsity level, added, “I’m surprised we’ve gotten this far, considering we lost our one and two (singles players Tess Amore and Victoria Luchi) from last year. But I think we’re still pretty strong. We kind of rely on our first four singles. If we do good, then the doubles seem to do good, too. It’s kind of like a chain reaction.”

Again mirroring last season, East Providence and Middletown are headed towards another head-to-head clash for first place and the top seed in the upcoming Division III playoffs. The Townies were slated to face the Islanders on the road Thursday, Oct. 19, in the regular season finale for the locals. Middletown entered the match with a 14-1 record and with two outings remaining, the one against E.P. and another against PCD on October 21.

Regardless of the outcome, the Townies will open up defense of their league title Tuesday, Oct. 24, at home in the playoff quarterfinals. E.P. will be either the first or second seed from III-A, playing host to either the third or fourth place team from III-B.

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