Armen Amirbekian, a senior, is seen during practice with the Bethlehem boys’ tennis team at the high school in preparation for the NYSPHSAA boys’ team tennis championships on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Delmar, N.Y. The championships will be held Friday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing.
DELMAR – Every year, Bethlehem boys’ tennis coach Steve Smith starts the season by posing the same question to his players.
“What piece,” Smith said, “are you going to be in this puzzle?”
It’s a message, Smith said, meant to convey the importance of every member of the roster in a team sport that’s determined by individual performance. It has obviously worked, as Smith has won 13 Section II championships as a coach, including six of the last seven Section II Class A titles.
“We have a legacy here,” Smith said Wednesday during the team’s final practice of the season in advance of Friday’s state team tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing.
Going to the state tournament has become a part of that Bethlehem tennis legacy in recent years. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association only began sanctioning a state team championship in the 2021-22 season.
In four years of the state tournament, the Eagles have advanced to Flushing on three occasions.
“We’re feeling good,” said senior Armen Amirbekain. “We have a big chance to make it to the finals, and I’m just really excited to play there.”
Getting to the finals has been the one hurdle that Bethlehem has been unable to clear in its previous trips to states. The Eagles were eliminated in the semifinal round in both 2022 and 2024, losing to eventual state champion Syosset of Section VIII 7-0 in last year’s semis.
This year, the state final four in Division I consists of Bethlehem, Syosset, Section V’s Pittsford-Mendon and Section IX’s Washingtonville. Coaches were required to submit their lineup of three singles players and four doubles teams by Wednesday night. The teams will then be seeded based on the Universal Tennis Rating Power 11 system, with No. 1 playing No. 4 and No. 2 facing No. 3 in the semifinals on Friday at 9:30 a.m.
On Thursday, the Eagles (16-0) were set as the No. 2 seed. They’ll face Pittsford-Mendon in the semifinals.
For a closely-knit Bethlehem program, getting to a state final would be a fitting way to end the decorated career of the team’s 10 seniors.
“We keep getting more time together, because we keep winning,” Smith said. “Now we get a trip down to New York, and we really focus on this, like, let’s be a family, and we get one more family trip together. We’ll go on a bus, have a meal together, and then get up (Friday) and hopefully get ourselves to the finals. We haven’t done that yet.”
“It would be really nice to play a second match there (at states),” Amirbekian said. “It would be a huge confidence boost for the guys next year who are going to be back. Me? I’m a senior. It’s my last dance.”
If there’s a secret behind Bethlehem’s success, senior Ian Jin said, it may come from the team’s camaraderie on and off the court.
“We’ve built such a tight family in this team,” said Jin, one of the team’s two captains alongside No. 1 singles player Aadi Ojha. “We practice every day. We have pasta parties. We’re really interconnected. So getting to the finals, or even winning it, would be like a dream.”
Wednesday was the Eagles’ final practice, an occasion that Amirbekian described as “bittersweet, but fun at the same time.”
“I’m really grateful to be able to play with these guys,” he said. “It’s been a hell of a ride.”
For Jin, it will be his second straight week playing at the home of the US Open. He earned a berth to the individual state tournament after finishing third in the Section II singles tournament. A loss in his first-round match didn’t put a damper on his experience, but only served to increase his motivation for the team tournament.
Jin’s excited to join his teammates as they walk in the footsteps of tennis legends.
“I’ve visited the US Open so many times,” he said. “I’ve seen all these top guys, top 100 in the world, playing on those courts. Going on those courts, where all the top players have been, it’s really exhilarating. It’s awesome.”