Bethlehem ready for trip to NYSPHSAA boys' team tennis championships - New York News Beep

Jack Keating, the Bethlehem boys tennis No. 2 singles player and co-captain, during a practice on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Delmar, NY. The team will travel to the USTA Tennis Center in Queens on Friday to compete in the state semifinals against Syosset, of Section 8. (Jim Franco/Times Union)

Jim Franco/Times Union Bethlehem boys tennis head coach Steve Smith during a practice on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Delmar, NY. His team will travel to the USTA Tennis Center in Queens on Friday to compete in the state semifinals against Syosset, of Section 8. (Jim Franco/Times Union)

Bethlehem boys tennis head coach Steve Smith during a practice on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Delmar, NY. His team will travel to the USTA Tennis Center in Queens on Friday to compete in the state semifinals against Syosset, of Section 8. (Jim Franco/Times Union)

Jim Franco/Times Union Jack Keating, the Bethlehem boys tennis No. 2 singles player and co-captain, during a practice on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Delmar, NY. The team will travel to the USTA Tennis Center in Queens on Friday to compete in the state semifinals against Syosset, of Section 8. (Jim Franco/Times Union)

Jim Franco/Times Union Jacob Lyubarov, the Bethlehem boys tennis No. 1 singles player and co-captain, during a practice on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Delmar, NY. The team will travel to the USTA Tennis Center in Queens on Friday to compete in the state semifinals against Syosset, of Section 8. (Jim Franco/Times Union)

Jacob Lyubarov, the Bethlehem boys tennis No. 1 singles player and co-captain, during a practice on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Delmar, NY. The team will travel to the USTA Tennis Center in Queens on Friday to compete in the state semifinals against Syosset, of Section 8. (Jim Franco/Times Union)

Jim Franco/Times Union The Bethlehem boys tennis team warms up before a practice on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Delmar, NY. The team will travel to the USTA Tennis Center in Queens on Friday to compete in the state semifinals against Syosset, of Section 8. (Jim Franco/Times Union)

The Bethlehem boys tennis team warms up before a practice on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Delmar, NY. The team will travel to the USTA Tennis Center in Queens on Friday to compete in the state semifinals against Syosset, of Section 8. (Jim Franco/Times Union)

Jim Franco/Times Union

DELMAR — For this season’s Bethlehem boys’ tennis team to continue its run as Section 2’s preeminent large school program, it was going to take a lot of players succeeding as they stepped into newer, more prominent roles.

That’s exactly what the Eagles got.

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Coach Steve Smith’s team entered the 2026 season needing to replace 10 seniors — including the squad’s top three singles players — who graduated from the Eagles’ 2025 squad that won the Section 2 Class AA championship and reached the Division I state final.

“We didn’t know what we were,” Smith said.

It took some growing pains, but Bethlehem is right back at the standard that Smith’s program has set. The Eagles won the Section 2 Class AA title for the seventh time in the last eight tournaments, and they’re state semifinalists again as they’ll face three-time defending champion Syosset on Friday at 9:30 a.m. at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing.

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The Eagles’ two captains, Jacob Lyubarov and Jack Keating, played a large role in the team reaching this point. Last year, Keating and Lyubarov were the No. 4 and No. 5 singles players in the Bethlehem lineup. This year, they’ve been moved to the top.

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Jim Franco/Times Union

“We had to play some of the top players in the section,” Lyubarov said. “We held our own, and I think that really motivated the other guys that they could step up as well in meaningful ways.”

“Jacob Lyubarov and Jack Keating, just tremendous leaders,” Smith said. “They knew the task at hand was going to be big.”

Getting past perennial rival Shaker for the sectional title was particularly satisfying for the Eagles.

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Bethlehem dropped a 5-4 match to Shaker during the regular season, meaning the Eagles entered the sectional tournament as the No. 2 seed, but the postseason meeting went Bethlehem’s way, with a 7-2 win clinching a third straight area title.

“A lot of guys really stepped up and did what they needed to do in some close matches,” Keating said.

This is the third straight year Bethlehem has reached the state semifinals. Each year so far, the Eagles have run into Syosset in New York City. Bethlehem fell to Syosset in the 2024 state semifinals and in last year’s championship match.

Jim Franco/Times Union

“On paper, they look like the better team,” Smith said. “But, that’s our mission. We’re not going to pay attention to what’s on paper.”

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Since the introduction of state playoffs for team tennis in 2022, Bethlehem has reached the final four in Flushing four times in five years.

Glens Falls, the Section 2 Class B champion, is also headed to Flushing for Friday’s state tournament. The Black Bears will face Byram Hills in a Division 2 semifinal at 8:30 a.m.

The state tournament tweaks the match format to what Bethlehem is used to during the Section 2 season. Where Bethlehem spends most of the season playing matches that include six singles and three doubles matchups, the state tournament flips the script to three singles and four doubles.

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Smith, along with assistant coach and “doubles guru” Dylan Davis, begin preparing the Eagles for that format change well in advance.

“That week heading into team sectionals,” Smith said, “we start to mix up the practices and have more doubles.”

Bethlehem ready for trip to NYSPHSAA boys’ team tennis championships

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