EAST PROVIDENCE — That Abigail Ellison, in 2023, is a standout on the East Providence High School boys' tennis tennis team isn't so big of a deal.

That she, as a freshman, is already one of the top players on the Townies' roster and is also among the better players at the Division II level of the boys' game kinda still is.

Ellison completed an impressive first year on the squad in recent weeks, helping the Townies compile a 9-4 regular season record and qualify for the 2023 Division II championship playoffs during their initial spring back playing in the state's middle tier.

Seeded fourth in the league postseason tourney, EPHS, which won the D-III title last spring before being realigned up to D-II this year, lost to fifth-seeded Tiverton by a 4-3 score in the quarterfinals.

Already a well-known commodity on the very tight knit Rhode Island tennis scene, Ellison plays at a level and with a demeanor far beyond her academic class. She was able to be on the team because she plays another sport in the fall, girls' soccer, when the girls' tennis season takes place.

Rhode Island Interscholastic League rules allow for a mixing of the genders in certain sports on a per case basis when there's a conflict of seasons or an extraordinary reason. As an example, Houn Kim played on the 2022 EPHS boys' team. Then a senior, she received a waiver to compete on the boys’ team because she missed the majority her 2021 fall season due to injury. Kim contributed to the Townies' title a year ago, playing some doubles matches.

This spring, Ellison earned the No. 2 singles position in EP's' everyday lineup at the completion of the preseason ladder matches, which pit each aspiring team members against the others to determine their spot in the playing order. Ellison eventually finished the Townies' varsity schedule with a 6-8 individual record.

"I was super excited," Ellison said of her first year on the team. "I think we did really well. I really didn't know the other players from last year. I think our season was interesting. They came from winning the D-III championship. And a lot of the players only have like two or three years experience playing tennis, and they're playing really good. And making a difference here. So I'm happy to be a part of that."

Ellison did, in fact, join a core group of Townies, mostly juniors this year, who have shown rapid improvement in just a short period of time under former head coach Paul Amaral and his successor Slade Sharma. The group took its lumps in its pandemic-shortened freshmen season of 2021, going just 2-7. Last year, the Townies made an enormous jump, going 12-1 in the regular season, then beating West Warwick, Providence Country Day and Chariho en route to the D-III title.

Interest in tennis at EPHS, for both genders, is certainly at a generational, if not all-time high. Some of that has to do with Sharma, a program alum and former part-time teacher in the district at the middle school level. He began seeking talented athletes who don't compete in other sports during the tennis seasons — fall for the girls and spring for the boys — to come out for the team. In Ellison's instance it was an easy sell.

"Around this time last year I went to RMS (Riverside Middle School where Ellison attended) after school to recruit eighth graders for the tennis teams. I was running two meetings, one for the boys and then one for the girls. Abigail made it clear then that she intended to play for the boys' team," Sharma explained.

He continued, "Fast forward a year later and she has just finished her freshman season at the No. 2 singles for the boys team with a 6-8 overall record. That’s a tough spot to play, especially as a freshman. Each match I felt she grew more and more into the player that she knows she’s going to be. She loves this sport, she works insanely hard at getting better each day. She has her aspirations and her goals and they coincide with our teams success. I’m incredibly impressed with her first year and she’s only getting better."

Ellison certainly is a committed tennis player. She took up the seriously about three years ago and has played United States Tennis Association tournaments for her age group. In preparation for taking on males regularly this spring, she also competed in Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) events.

"I've played against a lot of guys, just not to this extent...every single day at every single match. Before the season I was playing UTR tournaments just to get into playing against more boys because girls and boys play different," Ellison explained.

Of what she gleaned from vying against the opposite gender this spring and what she needed to work on with her own game, Ellison continued, "There's a lot of slicing. I think they do hit with more top spin and more consistency, too. I think the girls game is more about power, a lot less spin and a lot less slices... I need to work on my mentality. I think I just need to find something within me to go on the court and just play my game."

Ellison actually did that a lot this spring. She regularly out-hit her opposition with heavier, harder groundstrokes. And though she is not the only female to play on the EPHS boys' team in recent memory, no girl has held such an important spot in the lineup and contributed to the extent she did this year or is likely to continue to do so over the next few years if she chooses.

Like any other freshman, life...growing up...could lead Ellison down a different path, one away from the boys' team, another away from the sport. She admitted as much. She also, quite simply, might change her mind.

It's unlikely given her talent and focus, but it remains an option. For now, though, a future in tennis playing against the best competiton possible, at as high a level as possible is still the main aim.

"I want to keep playing on the boys' team because there's a lot more competition here. And I kind of want to experience it a little more. In the future, I may make the decision to play on the girls' team. I'm not sure. You never know," Ellison said. "I do want to play tennis. But it's funny because at the beginning of the season, that's what I wanted to do, what I wanted to do with my life, but things change. It's interesting. I want to play tennis my whole life, and I want to play at a high level, but I'm not sure I want to commit everything to it. But I do want to go for D-I a college. That's still the goal."