Byram Hills Girls Tennis Team Honored With Victory Parade

ARMONK, NY — The team that brought home a state championship celebrated with the whole community in a celebration that spanned the hamlet.

From the Byram Hills Central School District.

Welcome to Tennis Town.

The Byram Hills Girls Varsity Tennis team, which nabbed its third New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division II team championship, was celebrated with a victory parade through Armonk.

Byram Hills won the event's inaugural team event in 2021 and again in 2022, making this year's championship win the team’s third state title in four years.

A truck decorated with Byram Hills red and blue and a championship sign carried the girls down Main Street as supporters cheered them on. Their float was preceded by emergency vehicles with celebratory sirens and lights, the booming Byram Hills drumline, cheerleaders and the Bobcat mascot, along with District and school officials.

The parade ended at North Castle Town Hall, where the girls gathered on the steps as school and community leaders congratulated them and their coach.

"I am so incredibly proud of the work they’ve done this year and the commitment they’ve had to building the program," Byram Hills High School Principal Christopher Walsh said. "Byram Hills is known now as tennis town. It’s because of all the hard work they put in year-round and not just in the tournaments. I’m so thankful for all that they have done to make us so proud."

Superintendent Dr. Jen Lamia expressed gratitude "to these young women who have done so much for our school District, for our community and for themselves, individually and as a team."

"I am so proud to be your superintendent," she added.

Rob Castagna, the Byram Hills Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics,noted that hundreds of athletic teams throughout New York set goals at the beginning of every season.

"Some of the goals may seem impossible at times," he said. "This team believed in each other and the ability to reach their goals and they believed that everything was possible, not impossible."

Head coach Jessica Kaplan thanked everyone for their support. "Congratulations to the girls," she said, noting that the championship is such a great achievement, "something you’ll remember for a long time."

In her first year as coach of the girls team, the squad finished 12-2 in the regular season and 19-2 through the state championship. The team defeated Bayport Blue Point 4-1 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens on Nov. 8. to win the state championship.

North Castle Supervisor Joseph Rende celebrated the team’s athletic excellence. "You go through life, in your next years to come, you’ll always look back on this moment and I’m sure you’ll be proud of it," he said.

He presented each girl with a certificate from the town recognizing the achievement.

Team captains Jordyn Bernstein and Jenna Kleynerman thanked the team’s supporters and the crowd walked to the state championship sign at the intersection of Old Route 22 and Main Street, where the newest entry was unveiled: Girls Tennis 2024.

In addition to the captains, the team is made up of Anika Bobra, Anisha Bobra, Amelia Deeks, Sophia Deeks, Layna Delk, Ava Gitler, Danielle Goldman, Eliza Moy, Emerson Pace, Charlotte Sanders and Katherine Shil.

In Byram Hills history, which dates to 1966, Girls Varsity Tennis is the only girls team to have won a state title. The team holds three out of the school’s five state titles.

This release was produced by the Byram Hills Central School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.