The East Providence High School girls' tennis team opened up its 2024 regular season this past week with a pair of matches in the Division II ranks.

The Townies were playing their initial outings in the state's middle tier since last being in D-II in 2019. EPHS has been one of the better sides in D-III the last several seasons, reaching the league finals the previous two falls before being realigned up this year.

The locals opened with a 5-2 victory over fellow Division II opponent North Smithfield on the road Tuesday, Sept. 3.

Abigail Ellison, new to the squad after playing the last two years for the EPHS boys, won her debut at No. 1 singles by the scores of 7-5 and 6-2. Hope Moran added the other solo victory, 4-and-4, at the third position.

The Townies swept doubles as the teams of Rylee Thurber-Isabella Periquito won in three sets at No. 1 (3-6, 5 and 1), Ava Domingues-Megan Pita also went three sets to win at No, 2 (4-6, 0 and 3) and Liana Soares-Sydney Olson were 4-and-2 winners at No. 3.

East Providence finished off its first week playing up in D-II with a 5-2 loss to visiting Westerly Thursday afternoon, Sept. 5, at the Townie Tennis Center.

The Bulldogs were the highest ranked remaining team in the league (fourth place, 10-3 in 2023) following realignment.

Ellison won her second outing of the week, a dominant love-and-1 decision over Westerly's Ginny Royce at No. 1 singles. The match featured heavy groundstrokes between each side's ladder topper, but Ellison was the more composed, precise player throughout.

The Townies' other point came from the third doubles duo of Olson and Soares going the distance for the win 1-6, 6-4 and 10-8 in a pro set.

Despite the three-point loss, East Providence played right with the Bulldogs. Westerly, though, made fewer errors than the locals in the end.

The Townies dropped a pair of three-setters that could have gone their way and, potentially, have altered the outcome: Moran fell 1-6, 6-1 and 6-4 at two singles and the tandem of Thurber and Periquito fell 6-4, 6-7 (7-5) and 6-1 at first dubs.

Of the stiff competition during their first week of the year, EPHS head coach Slade Sharma said, "North Smithfield and Westerly were not ideal first matchups to start the season and we knew that, but we handled it well. This team has a lot of spirit. They take on every challenge in front of them. We knew this season was going to be a lot of ups and downs. The only thing that matters to us is that we can navigate the ups, and especially the downs, well."