March 11, 2012 — Sunday’s Bulldog Rumble at DeSales University ended with a battle between two Lehigh Valley powerhouses, and Synergy’s 18 Lehigh emerged with the gold.

The 18 Open tournament included three teams from Synergy — the Lehigh 18s and 17s as well as 18 Navy from King of Prussia. In the end,  17 Lehigh and 18 Lehigh made it to the playoffs, facing each other in an all-Synergy semi final, with the 18s taking the win.

That set up an all-Lehigh Valley final between 18 Lehigh and neighborhood rival CAVA 18 Lime. Earlier in the day, 18 Lehigh had dropped two close sets to CAVA during pool play. But in the rematch, Orange trumped Lime and Synergy took the gold in two sets.

“Outside hitter Erin Hillman played phenomenal,” said Coach Lora Yankauskas. “Setter Veronica Koval was awesome and played some great defense.”

Also on Sunday, the 14 Navy advanced to the playoffs at the Keystone Juniors tournament in King of Prussia. In pool play, 14 Navy beat Infinity Gray and DVA Villanova, but lost in two close sets to CJVA 14 Black, the team that eventually won the tournament. The girls won the gold quarterfinal against CJVA White, but lost in the semis to Club Delaware.

“We are getting better every time we take the court,” said Coach Mike Lott. “Today we played our best volleyball of the year, and our middles, Claire Gassman and Anninka Hemdal were outstanding with their hitting, blocking and all around net play.”

Congratulations to all the Synergy teams who played this weekend!