You don’t win four consecutive state championships without talent, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that half of the 2006 all-state volleyball first team is comprised of Greely players.

The Rangers of Cumberland Center placed three players on Maine high school volleyball’s best-of-the best team with Lauren Kinney, Molly Northway, and Tessa Churchill.

The three seniors led the Rangers to a fourth straight state title with a third straight victory over Mount Desert Island in the state finals.

Ironically, the MDI Trojans have no players on the first team, but they do have three on the second team.

The rest of the first team is filled by outside hitters: Ashley Tilton, a senior from Washington Academy of East Machias; Woodland junior Courtney Cochran; and Cony of Augusta senior Cassie Cooper.

Second team members are senior outside hitter Amy Harrison, junior middle hitter Mariah Grover, and junior outside hitter Carissa Tinker – all from MDI – Calais senior middle hitter Lindsey Mingo, Cony outside hitter Rachael Mack, Washington Academy senior outside hitter Megan Knowles, and Woodland junior outside hitter Mikayla Sabattis.

Nine players were chosen as honorable mentions on the team: Tina Beal from Jonesport-Beals, Jessica Brown of Calais, Sabrina Christian of Scarborough, Hillary Savage of Ellsworth, Katie Allen of Bucksport, Erika Zambello and Hillary Cederna of Greely, Shelby Pelkey of Cony, and Logan Kinney of Gorham.

First team

Kinney did it all for a Greely team that did it all. The 5-foot-7 senior with a 22-inch vertical leap registered 160 kills and 24 aces in 41 games covering 13 matches. A two-time all-state player was an 86 percent defensive digger and 88 percent receiver. She also has a 3.8 grade-point average.

Tilton had 115 kills and 45 digs to go with a 91 percent service percentage (142-for-156) and 11 aces.

Cochran was successful serving 86.9 percent of the time (153-for-176) with 25 aces. She set a school record for kills with 233. The two-time All-Downeast Athletic Conference player also had 131 digs and eight blocks.

Cooper led her Rams with a whopping 92 aces and also tallied 127 digs to go with 32 blocks.

Northway made the most of her jump serve with 40 aces. The 5-11 hitter put her 20-inch vertical jump to good use for 136 kills in 41 games. She was successful 83 percent of the time on blocking opportunities and on 82 percent of her defensive digs.

Churchill was an imposing 5-foot-7 with another 136 kills plus 42 kills for the Rangers. She had 183 set assists and 32 aces. She was 72 percent effective on defensive digs.

Second team

Harrison hit on 91 percent of her serves (169-for-185) with 47 aces. She was an 85 percent attacker with 61 kills and 29 digs.

Mingo delivered 150 of her 177 serves successfully (85 percent) for 32 aces. She also had 98 kills, 50 digs and 45 blocks.

Mack led Cony with 171 kills and also had 35 blocks.

Grover served at a 74 percent success rate with 18 aces. She had 108 kills and 52 blocks.

Knowles tallied 119 kills and 49 digs. She also was an 87 percent server with 32 aces.

Sabattis was a 91 percent server (179-for-197) with 14 aces. She also had 117 digs, 83 assists and 64 kills.

Tinker hit on 98 percent (148-of-151) of her serves with 22 aces, 32 digs, 28 kills, and 21 assists.