As is the case with fine wine, volleyball can have vintage years.

In Class 4A last season, the assemblage of talent at the state tournament probably was the best ever. The eventual champion, Battle Mountain, had five standout players. Third-place finishers Cheyenne Mountain and Sterling had three Division I players between them.

Most of the standouts from last year were seniors, though, and that's why 2006 runner-up Mountain View is ranked No. 1 this season. Experience is the biggest plus for the Mountain Lions, while it now is the weakness of other traditional powers.

Although the Mountain Lions graduated All-Colorado outside hitter Sarah Carson and defensive ace Lauren Massa, plenty of talent returns for coach Lindsey Stinson.

Stinson has seen enough good players elsewhere, though, to believe her team will not have it easy.

"Last year, 4A was stacked with solid teams," she said. "It makes it exciting this year, because it is wide open. It's not just Sterling with their middles or Battle Mountain with their solid lineup."

Wide open, yes, perhaps for the other seven berths at state next to Mountain View.

"I think the major competition this year is going to be for No. 2," Cheyenne Mountain coach David Barkley said. "Mountain View brings back the most people, and Lindsey is such a good coach."

Stinson wasn't surprised Mountain View enters the season as No. 1.

"We have five starters back, if you count the libero," she said. "We're still going to be tiny, but that's OK. This group, from the first player to the ninth player, we have just sound ball control. They make a lot of things happen."

The Mountain Lions' leader is senior setter Megan Roark, who will be a four-year starter.

"The quarterback of our team won state as a freshman," Stinson said of Roark. "Her high school (season) has always ended in the championship match."

Roark also has received plenty of individual acclaim. She was selected as national freshman of the year by PrepVolleyball. com and has earned annual all-league and all-state honors.

"Fundamentally, her footwork is phenomenal," Stinson said. "She can get to any ball on the court and set it to the same spot."

Roark said she really wasn't able to evaluate the 4A competition during the summer, as so many players were missing. But after the first week of practice, she is optimistic about the Mountain Lions.

"I think we look really good," Roark said. "We have so many people with so much potential."

Last year, the 6-foot-2 Carson by far was the hardest hitter and tallest player on the team. No big replacements have arrived, though.

"We're going to be a pretty short team," the 5-6 Roark said. "I can block fine, it's never been a problem for me. I just have to work hard at it."

Carson was the player who buried shots last season, and Massa excelled at the other side. Roark believe their replacements have shown promise.

"My younger sister Kendra will be outside, and she's about 4 inches taller (than I am)," Roark said.

"On defense, we have Katherine (Spahr) who played right side and some outside hitter, who will be the libero. She's always been such a great defensive player. She's going to be awesome for us."

Cheyenne Mountain doesn't figure to be as stout as last season, but even with severe depletion from graduation, the Indians enter the season at No. 3.

"We lost seven seniors, three of them were all-state players," Barkley said.

The Indians graduated a first-teamer in Andrea Brodie (now at Portland State), and true standouts in outside hitter Kelley Lawson (All-Colorado in soccer) and libero Sherri O'Brien (second-team all- state at a competitive position).

"But my two middles are back, one of my setters is back," Barkley said. "I happen to think the two outside hitters we're looking at are not going to play at the same level as their predecessors, but they're good. I think we're going to be more athletic on the right side."

NOTEBOOK

• Cheyenne Mountain might have had its most talented team ever last season, a squad that advanced to the state semifinals.

"We graduated seven players, three of whom were all-state," Indians coach David Barkley said. "On this year's team, I don't see kids who are the same caliber as some of those seniors, but I see players who really are good."

Former standout Andrea Brodie, now with Portland State, still has her sister Laura playing for the Indians, and the loss of setter Natalie Schoon to graduation will be offset by the return of Allison Risk, who split time with her last year.

Jill Tooma and Tyler Miller are senior replacements at outside hitter. All those veterans have Barkley feeling good about this season's prospects.

"We're going to be more athletic on the right side," he said. "If you look at who has been to the state tournament the most over the last four years or so, it's Mountain View and us."

While Mountain View has won two titles in the past four seasons, Cheyenne Mountain also has qualified for state in every one of those years.

• Brian Doyon is another coach with a situation similar to Cheyenne Mountain. His Battle Mountain team won the state championship last season, losing only to Class 5A Doherty. But the Huskies graduated a ton of talent.

Doyon said he was encouraged by Battle Mountain's performance at a Colorado State summer camp. He was hired as a camp coach and, therefore, wasn't able to direct the Huskies at the camp.

So who took over? Former right-side hitter Crystin Rodrick, who has a scholarship with the Rams and is expected to play defensive specialist, and perhaps libero.

Doyon said Rodrick has a solid future as a volleyball coach.

• With 4A teams, there usually is the concern of what to do in the playoffs with teams that play in mostly Class 5A leagues. Mullen, for example, has an enrollment of a little more than 1,000 students. It is part of the Centennial League, but drops down to 4A for the playoffs, if it qualifies.

Montezuma-Cortez and Montrose, in the Southwestern League, face a similar situation. Here's the solution devised by the Colorado High School Activities Association.

Mullen will qualify for districts if it wins at least 25 percent of its overall matches. While that doesn't sound too daunting, the Mustangs have to achieve that against, among others, Eaglecrest, Cherry Creek and Smoky Hill. All three of those teams are ranked in the preseason top 10.

Either Montezuma-Cortez or Montrose will get an automatic slot into districts, but the lower-finishing team also can qualify by meeting that 25 percent standard.

If neither Mullen nor the 4A Southwestern team meets the 25 percent standard, then the berth(s) are thrown open to any other 4A team. The slot(s) will be filled by the highest win percentage, which can include Mullen and the lower Southwestern team.

The Continental League has three 4A schools, but Castle View will not have a varsity squad and isn't eligible for the playoffs. So that means Regis and Rock Canyon are assured of district berths.

• Two of the most successful coaches in 4A have called it quits. Fort Morgan's Sandra Bills is pursuing her second master's degree and Greeley West's Josie Hemmings followed through with her long-planned resignation. Both coached for seven seasons.

Bills said she is relishing her free time these days and has turned down a number of other opportunities to do sports-related activities.

"I've gotten really good at saying no," Bills said. "People think I left because the cupboard is bare, but we have some really good young players."

Hemmings' youngest daughter, Audrey, graduated from Greeley West this past spring, so she told fellow coaches last fall that the 2006 season would be her final year.

Fort Morgan now is being coached by Tom Gonzales, Bills' former assistant, and the Spartans are being led by Gwen Forster.

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