EAST PROVIDENCE — In recent seasons, the East Providence High School girls' tennis team has enjoyed nearly as much success as during any other time in the now 50-year history of the program. The key word here being "nearly."

That's because although EPHS won 32 of 35 matches in the Division III ranks the last two falls, each time the Townies suffered agonizingly closes losses in the league championship final and both of those, even more crushingly, were  to their intracity rivals Bay View (4-3 in 2022) and Providence Country Day (4-2 in 2023).

The only two seasons where the program came close to that level of performance was during the only two times the Townies have claimed league titles in five decades playing girls' tennis;  both in Division III to end 1993 and 2016, respectively.

Looking ahead to 2024 and a new season also brings a new set of obstacles for East Providence, which because of the aforementioned success has been moved up into Division II by the Rhode Island Interscholastic League.

The Townies were actually one of three D-III teams to go up along with Cranston East and Woonsocket, switching places with St. Raphael, Classical and Tiverton. EP was last in D-II for two seasons, 2018 and '19, when they compiled a 6-20 record before moving down in 2020.

"The move up to D-II presents a whole new level of challenges for us, but the team has the right mindset to take them on," said EPHS head coach Slade Sharma, entering his third fall leading the Townies.

He continued, "We just want to go out there and put our best foot forward, win as many matches as we can and learn from the losses we get."

As for the rest of D-II, Cumberland, Middletown and Prout dropped down from D-I, replaced in the state's top tier by reigning D-II champ South Kingstown and runner-up Chariho as well as Narragansett.

Cumberland, Lincoln High, Lincoln School, North Providence, North Smithfield, Pilgrim, Prout, Rogers and Westerly remain. Westerly was the best of the holdovers last year, going 10-3 while Rogers went 9-4.

The Townies take on those teams after losing exactly half of their 10 starters from a year ago to graduation.

Junior Hope Moran, about to play her third year of singles, leads the returnees along with senior co-captains Maggie Robinson and Ava Domingues, junior Rylee Thurber and sophomore Madison Luu.

East Providence's roster is bolstered significantly with the addition of junior Abigail Ellison, who immediately slots atop the Townies' playing ladder at first singles.

Ellison isn't just any newcomer or transfer. She played the last two springs for the EPHS boys' team at the very competitive No. 2 singles spot. Ellison, who is already considered by many observers to be among the best solo talents in D-II, gave up playing girls' volleyball in the fall to allow for the switch in seasons.

"Abi coming to our team has given the girls a lot of confidence in the ceiling of our team's success. Our expectation for her is that she goes out and gives it her best every time. And we know that’s exactly what we’ll get out of her," Sharma explained. "At the same time, despite how talented she is, we all understand that she’s another girl on the team that isn’t invincible."

Luu has earned the No. 2 position during the preseason ladder matches with Moran third and Robinson fourth.

Thurber is joined by returning contributor and junior Isabella Periquito in earning the No. 1 doubles position. Domingues will team with freshman newbie Megan Pita at the second spot while first-time varsity contributors sophomore Sydney Olson and junior Liana Soares have claimed the third tandem slot.

Sophomores Carly Cordeiro and Ava Gagne enter the fall ranked 11th and 12th on the ladder, respectively, and are all but assured to see some court time due to absence, illness or injury.

"We have a ton of depth. We have some seriously talented players on the team," Sharma added. "Many of the girls got better and we got some new student athletes who are going to contribute right away. It’s just about how we maximize that talent and build consistency. We’re really excited about this season. This is a really good team of really great athletes and people."

Of note this year as well, the RIIL has instituted a new scheduling format, which allows schools to pick between 20 and 50 percent of their opponents with the league assigning the rest. EPHS, across all sports, picked the 80-20 option. The Townies will play D-I Chariho and D-III St. Ray's in its two chosen girls' tennis matches.

The change also includes for the first time ever, regular season contests against both teams from outside of their own division and out-of-state competitors that impact playoff qualification. Teams will be afforded points for their wins based on a strength of opposition measure akin to the RPI/Ratings Percentage Index used at the collegiate level.

In addition for postseason purposes, schools can choose the amount of games that count towards their playoff qualifications based on the sport.

Teams will receive the following points for victories from in and out of state matches: Division I 10; Division II 6, Division III 3.6, Division IV 2.2. And in general, the RIIL considers the following enrollments to determine the level of competition: 0-500 students, D-IV; 501-1,000 D-III; 1,001-1,500; D-II; 1,501-plus, D-I.

"It was difficult to schedule these matches," Sharma said of the switch. "When it’s up to the coaches to schedule these matches, it’s very easy for teams to not respond to you if they don’t have interest in playing you. It’s happened a few times while I was trying to schedule them."

The Townies open up their 2024 slate with a pair of matches September 3 at 4:30 p.m. in North Smithfield and their home opener September 5 against Westerly at 5:30. EP next welcomes St. Ray's for one of its counting non-leaguers September 9 at 4 p.m. then travels to North Providence to face the Cougars September 11 at 3:30 p.m.