EAST PROVIDENCE — Though both sides had considerable attrition through graduation, the first meeting between neighbors and rivals St. Mary Academy-Bay View and East Providence High School since the Bengals edged the Townies by a point for the Division III championship last season still held much meaning for each.

The rematch had nothing in the way of comparable suspense as undefeated and league-leading East Providence blitzed visiting Bay View by a 7-0 count Thursday, Oct. 5, on a warm, sunny afternoon at the Townie Tennis Center.

East Providence lost four seniors from its group of 10 regulars off its 2022 side that fell to the eventual unbeaten league champion Bengals in the third and final set of the final match at Slater Park in Pawtucket just about 11 months ago to the day.

The procession down the graduation aisle was felt even more by Bay View, which returned only one starter from the team that went 17-0 and beat the Townies twice last fall, including the dramatic victory for the D-III title.

Last week, however, the Townies left little doubt who was going to be the winners. At Nos. 3 and 4 singles, Megha Tennetti and Caroline Haggerty were both brisk 6-1, 6-0 winners over their respective Bay View opponents Angelina Maldonado and Lila Nascimento.

Just as quickly, EP's second singles pair of Tianna Brierly-Maggie Robinson bageled the Bengals' duo of Theodora Minca and Rebecca Miller to make it 3-0 hosts in the overall match. The Townies' top doubles pairing of Isabella Hurley and Madison Luu needed a bit more time than their mates to defeat Bay View's Bernadette Pama and Madeline Medeiros 1-and-2, but the point was enough to secure the team triumph.

"We truly do not just care about what the individual player is doing. Tennis is kind of an individual sport, but it is a team sport us," Haggerty, East Providence's senior captain, said of the Townies' approach in recent years.

She continued, "We genuinely put in so much effort and work. We don't have a feeder program. We're not a private school, but we have the determination, the team behind us. And even though we lost like half our lineup from last year, we've built this program on players. We built this program on community. I think that's what makes us who we are.

"Tennis doesn't end when the last match is played. We're always working. We're always getting our reps in. This isn't just a fall sport for us. We just always keep working."

The most competitive matches were at the top of the singles ladder where EP's No. 1 Hope Moran edged the lone returning starter for the Bengals, senior Natalia Annicelli, in two tight sets 6-4 and 7-6 (7-4) while the Townies' two Lena Shanty was a 4-and-4 winner over her Bay View counterpart Lily Goodwin.

The EP No. 3 doubles team of Rylee Thurber and Ava Domingues closed out the overall shutout with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Bay View's Arfa Haseeb and Zara Jean.

The Townies improved to 9-0 to date with the victory. East Providence was set to get right back on the court Friday afternoon, Oct. 6, when the locals host Cranston East at 3:30 in a make-up of a match postponed due to rain from earlier in the season. The Bengals dipped to 2-5 in the D-III standings with the loss. They're off until a Tuesday, Oct. 10, match against Exeter-West Greenwich.