For the second year in a row, the Southlake Carroll Dragons swept their way to the Duncanville Tournament of Champions title on Saturday, taking down top-ranked Coppell in the process.

But while his players were celebrating around him, coach Arthur Stanfield was keeping things in perspective.

For the second year in a row, Southlake Carroll players were the ones celebrating at center court at the close of the Duncanville Tournament of Champions.

"Well, I don't want to be a downer," he said, "but we won it last year and it didn't mean a thing because of what happened in the playoffs."

What happened in the playoffs, of course, is that Carroll was upset in the second round by Grapevine after the Dragons had spent all year as the top-ranked 5A team in the state.

"But this is a really good group of kids," he continued, "and after what happened to us in the playoffs, they have come back and they have worked hard. I'm pleased with the way they played this weekend."

Just like last year, the Dragons blew threw the loaded Duncanville field without dropping a set (in fact they have yet to drop a set this season). And they did it just like they did last year, with a varied attack featuring some terrific play at setter and with rock solid defense at the net and on the back row.

Katie Dunlap (13) earned MVP honors for her play all around the court.

"Truthfully we knew we would do well, but I don't know that we expected to win," said senior OH Katie Dunlap, who was selected tournament MVP. "This year has really been different because we lost a lot of our key starters (from last season), so we're trying to develop a new starting lineup, we're getting new leaders and trying to pull together. We feel like our chemistry has really been top notch this weekend. and we're just really excited."

Dunlap was a very deserving MVP selection for her play over the weekend, but the award could just as easily have gone to Christen Sikora or Taylor Gruenewald or Courtney Ensch or Danielle Proskovec or libero Cat McCoy, who was named Outstanding Defensive Player.

The Dragons, who are smaller than most of the other state powers, feature a mix of sophomores, juniors and seniors in key roles but have no real superstars. It seemed that every time they needed a big play over the weekend, it was a different player stepping up to make it.

Plays like this frustrated opposing offenses all weekend and earned Cat McCoy recognition as the touirnament's Outstanding Defensive Player.

"This team jells really well together," said McCoy. "We came in with a great attitude and a positive attitude and thinking we would do well. Winning two years in a row is just awesome."

Carroll looked impressive on Saturday in taking down Amarillo, Colleyville Heritage and Coppell with an energy none of the others could match.

Coppell, meanwhile, had been pushed to three by Allen to start Saturday morning and then swept Lovejoy to advance to the finals against one of their biggest North Texas rivals.

The match started with Sikora, Maiya Burns, Ensch and Timarie Nymeyer trading kills with Coppell's Erica Bohannon, Cassidy Pickrell and Chiaka Ogbogu.

Then, as they had done all weekend, the Dragons put together a run. Huge blocks by Nymeyer, Dunlap and Gruenewald coupled with Coppell's inability to handle the serve of Maddie McCoullough, Dunlap and McCoy sparked an unanswered outburst that put Carroll up 23-14.

Coppell's Mary-Kate Marshall skies for the shot during the finals.

But the top-ranked Cowgirls weren't going away that easily.

"They are a great team and have some amazing players," said McCoy.

Bohannon and Ogbogu took over to lead a 7-0 run that pulled the Cowgirls within 23-11. Ogbogu had three massive stuffs and a kill in the run, while Bohannon had two kills and an ace.

The big lead proved too much for Coppell to overcome, however, as Carroll caught its breath then closed out the set 25-22, thanks in part to some untimely mistakes by the Cowgirls.

Kylie Pickrell sets the Coppell attack.

Set two was much the same.

An opening outburst of Sikora blocks and kills had Carroll up 10-6 early. But then Pickrell and Bohannon answered and Coppell suddenly had a 12-10 lead in what seemed the blink of an eye.

Carroll responded with its own outburst and big back-to-back stuffs by Gruenewald put the Dragons up 13-12.

The teams traded kills again until, at 15-15, it was time for another Carroll run. This one was led by Sikora and Proskovec and when it was done, the Dragons were up 23-19.

Pickrell and Bohannon pulled Coppell within 21-23, but Nymeyer gave the Dragons championship point, which was delivered moments later, fittingly, on a stuff by Gruenewald.

"Coppell is a great team," said Dunlap, "and honesty, we've never had energy like we had today, so I'm super excited to see where it takes us next."

SEMIFINALS

The Dragon energy, according to McCoy, came prior the semifinal showdown with Colleyville Heritage.

"We started off having a dance-off in the hallway with (Colleyville)," said McCoy. "We know a lot of their players and we were kind of talking smack to each other. That gave us a lot of energy and we came out on fire."

That they did.

Heritage is a team whose players have never seen a set they didn't want to pound into submission. Finesse is not a part of the game plan.

They had basically overpowered Plano West and McKinney Boyd in the first two rounds of bracket play, but the Carroll Dragons were another beast.

And, as McCoy said, they came out on fire.

The Dragon block frustrated Heritage the entire match.

Blasts that had been pounding the floor earlier were suddenly being rejected by Gruenewald, Proskovec and Ensch with a vengeance. And if something did make it through, McCoy was showing why she's considered one of the state's premier liberos.

Meanwhile, Sikora, Proskovec and Gruenewald were unloading from all over as Southlake handed Heritage a 25-11 spanking in the first set.

The second set started out as more of the same, with Carrol shutting down the Heritage attack while scoring at will. The Dragons jumped out to commanding leads of 9-2, 16-4 and 19-8 then seemed to relax and suddenly the wheels went flying.

As a result, Heritage got a little of its swagger back.

Anna Walsh, Kimmy Gardner and Sarita Mikals suddenly caught fire and exploded on a 10-1 run that pulled them within 20-19 and stunned the Carroll players and crowd. But with Dunlap and Ensch coming up with huge kills, and Heritage making killer mistakes at crucial times, Carroll finished with a 5-1 run to close out the match and earn a berth in the finals.