EAST PROVIDENCE — As they've done for the entirety of the 2023 season to date, the East Providence High School top pairing of Isabella Hurley and Madison Luu cruised to a resounding victory, the latest being for the Division III doubles tournament title on a mild, but blustery Sunday morning, Oct. 22, at the Townie Tennis Center in city.

Hurley and Luu were decisive winners in two sets over the West Warwick tandem of Oluwatofunni Oruku and Maiya Robert by the convincing count of 6-0, 6-2.

Hurley, a senior, and Luu, a freshman, have been a dominant duo all fall, going undefeated just as the EPHS team as a whole has. They completed the regular league campaign with a 13-0 record as a pair. They are 14-0 in total individually. Hurley played and won a match at fourth singles versus Shea, while Luu teamed with Tianna Brierly for the victory at one dubs against the same Raiders.

It was the second time this season Oruku lost to the Townies. Hurley and Luu were 6-1, 6-0 winners over her and and Emma Mann as EPHS shutout the Wizards 7-0 during the regular season on September 28. Robert was unavailable for that contest.

"It is really cool to get this, especially in my senior year," said Hurley. "Freshman year, I never would have thought that I could do this."

Added Luu, "It feels great to do this, and as a freshman. I think I'm the only freshman who has got to play on the team, so I'm really happy to be able to do this."

The Townie tandem rolled to the opening set win, the clinching point coming on a service ace by Luu. Throughout the first six games East Providence were the more accurate servers and shot makers even in the at times unpredictable conditions. Hurley was especially efficient, ending a number of points with winners down the line.

The second set followed a similar pattern as Luu and Hurley built a seemingly comfortable 4-0 lead. The Townies, however, had a few lapses, which allowed Oruku and Robert to avoid being bageled. The Wizards broke both of the EP players once each, before the hosts closed out the win with their own breaks of service. The championship winning point came on a West Warwick hitting error into the net.

"I was confident even though it was a little windy and one of the girls wasn't there the first time we played them. So we definitely knew it wasn't going to be the same as the first time we played, but were still pretty confident and ready to pull it off," said Hurley.

The senior-freshman doubles combination isn't a typical tandem on most team most years, but it's been evident from the start of the season the games and mindsets of Hurley and Luu were quite compatible.

"We like to strategize what we do and we like to work on the same things," said Luu. "We like to work on things we should be doing and talk about things during the match."

Added EPHS head coach Slade Sharma of the pair, "This team is super effective. They communicate well. In a lot of ways their playing styles are likeminded. I think they're willing to take chances, attack areas of the court a lot of other teams would find difficult to do. They kind of do that with ease and comfort, and they bounce off each other well."

Hurley and Luu qualified for the 16-team state doubles tournament main draw, losing to the duo of Hana Shuster and Ella Maher-Santarpia from Division I Moses Brown 2-and-2 in one of the more competitive of the eight opening round matches. The top pair of Division I LaSalle's Eliza Barker and Alisha Chowdhry were the eventual tourney champs, beating the No. 1 duo of D-II Narragansett's Lara Gooding and Ambujam Lohmann 6-3, 6-1.

East Providence finished as the undefeated Division III regular season champions and will be the top seed in the league playoffs, which are set to begin later in the week, possibly October 26 or 27, with a home match against an opponent in the quarterfinal.