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RALEIGH For Ardrey Kell and coach Zoe Bell, history must wait.
A Knights victory in Saturday's N.C. 4A volleyball final against Greenville Rose would have earned Ardrey Kell's first state title in the sport, and Bell would have become the sport's first N.C. high school coach to lead two schools to state titles.
However, Bell and the Knights lost 16-25, 25-20, 23-25, 19-25 to the Rampants (25-0), who claimed their second consecutive crown.
"We've been underdogs all year long," Bell said. "We haven't done things the easy way, and it wasn't going to be that way all night.
"We started out a little shaky. Game 2 was AK Volleyball."
Kell (23-6) built a lead as large as seven points (20-13) in the second stanza, when senior outside hitter Samantha Gostling put down nine of her match high 22 kills.
"I knew (Bell) would have her team prepared for our attack," Rose coach Norman Cabacar said. "We had to work on (Gostling) first, see if we could slow her down and go from there."
Gostling was the lone Knight to post a double figure kill total, while three Rampants - led by Championship MVP Emily Neideffer (15 kills) tallied at least 10 kills apiece.
Gostling's 10 kills, too, were a team best.
A third game kill and ace by Gostling - on consecutive points - knotted the score at 14 for the first of eight more ties to the end of the set.
Kell managed an 18-18 tie in the final stanza before surrendering seven of the contest's final eight points.
"They're well-rounded," Bell said of Rose. "They've got an offense from the middle, the outside and the right side."
