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HUNTERSVILLE When Ardrey Kell volleyball coach Zoe Bell starts talking about magical seasons, it's probably a good idea to pay attention. You can be sure she knows what she's talking about.
Bell won nearly 500 games and four state championships at Providence High before taking over a Knights program last season that had never had a winning season nor won a playoff game.
Now, she's one win from a fifth state title.
"It's been a magical year," Bell said after the Knights rallied to beat North Mecklenburg 25-21, 13-25, 15-25, 25-19, 15-8 in a N.C. 4A semifinal .
The win was the 11th straight for the Knights (24-5), who will face Greenville Rose (24-0) in Saturday's 4A championship game in Raleigh. Four matches during the win streak have gone to five games.
"When we forced the fifth game, we had such confidence," Bell said. "We've played so many five-set matches."
One reason for confidence was 6-foot-2 senior outside hitter Samantha Gostling, who has accepted a full scholarship to play next year at Virginia Tech. Gostling dominated the first game with one booming spike after another. When Gostling was at her best, the Knights were nearly unbeatable.
"In the second game, we at least started slowing her down," said North Meck coach Sandi Skidmore.
The Vikings (25-3), behind the play of seniors Ali Cooke, Sarah Weise and Blair Atkinson controlled the second and third games and appeared poised to advance to the state final for the first time.
Instead, it will be the Knights in their first title game.
"This exceeds any goals we had, by far," Bell said. "Our goals at the beginning of the season were to finish in the top three in our conference, to make it to the third round of the playoffs and to better our winning percentage from last year, when we went 12-11."
Gostling led the Knights with 25 kills, and Diana Marren added 20. Aubrey Olsen had 45 assists.
Cooke had 22 kills, 11 digs and three blocks for the Vikings, and Sarah Weise had 16 kills and served seven aces. Atkinson, who was sidelined midway through the fifth game with a knee injury, had 39 assists.
