DELMAR– For the Bethlehem girls Varsity Tennis Team it is all about family this season.
The Eagles strive for a State Team Championship title at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens that begins on Friday, Nov. 8 after advancing in the regionals last week in Schenectady’s Central Park.
2024 Bethlehem Girls Tennis Team
“This group of players have mastered the concept of team culture and play,” Bethlehem Varsity Tennis Head Coach Scott George Said. “They really understand family culture and what it means. This team made that concept its goal at the beginning of the season. They really live it.”
In the individual State Tournament, Eagle’s doubles team of Senior Hope Brown and Senior Captain Rayka Kogut were eliminated by the number one seed on October 28, but the big prize is the team tournament.
Bethlehem Girls Tennis
“We knew that we have that family aspect as a team and we wanted to be champions together,” Senior Captain Shayna Huli said. “To do that we have to bring that energy to every game.”
Bethlehem has now reached the semi finals in four straight State Tournaments, but this is a special time for the Seniors who will make their last trip.
George said there are 12 seniors on the team and many of them have been at varsity level since 8th or 9th grade.
“This year is special with 12 seniors and our coaches. We have grown up playing tennis with each other for our whole careers,” Huli said. “It will be intense, but less stressful because of being with them.”
“We have always lost to a Long Island or Westchester team that ended up winning the championship,” George said. “We are getting closer every year, but they are all really good.”
This year, however, there will be a new champion because 3-time defending champion Scarsdale was eliminated in regional play. They will join Horace Greeley (section 1) or Warwick Valley (Section IX), Brighton (Section V) and Syosset (Section VIII).
George credits the success at Bethlehem with its stable of great coaches. Many teams have a few coaches, but the Eagles have five working with the team this year. Dylan Davis, Thomas Begley, Debbie Davis and David Clay.
“We probably have the best group of coaches in the Capital District when you consider the experience and success this group has competing at the Collegiate and Adult levels. They are just amazing,” George said.
Brown said It is so exciting to go to Flushing because it is a new experience each time and especially for the Freshmen players.
“It is also a great time for bonding, we get to watch our teammates. We are used to playing all at the same time,” she said. “At the Billie Jean King complex the view of the matches is at a really cool angle.”
“It is like a field trip because we stay down there. It brings us closer and it fosters our theme of family this season,” Huli added.
The format changes for the State play.
All season the girls play a team format of six singles matches and three doubles, but that changes to three single and four double matches for the section 2 and the State tournaments.
“We had to change on a dime after the regular season where we played the 6-3 format,” George said. “The next morning in sectionals we had to play 3-4. It was only 18 hours later.”
It did not slow down the Eagles as they beat Fayetteville-Manlius from Section 3 on October 26 to advance.
When talking to the younger players, Brown’s experience at the varsity level since the eighth grade shines through.
“I just tell them to play their own game,” She said. “When playing someone you think is better than you, it can try to think you have to play like them. I say ‘don’t get distracted by the way they play, just do what got us here.’”
The Eagles are 14-2 so far this year and want to make it to 16 wins and its first team championship for the family.
