Girls volleyball: Sailors’ loss UCLA’s gain
NEWPORT BEACH - Newport Harbor High junior Heather Cullen, a
6-foot-1 middle blocker and the lone junior on the 1999 Newport-Mesa
District Dream Team, will miss her senior season next fall, while
recovering from a torn right ACL sustained May 16.
Helping ease the pain and disappointment of her injury, however, was the
scholarship offer made by UCLA, which Cullen has accepted with a verbal
commitment.
Cullen, who injured the knee while practicing with the Orange County
Volleyball Club Nike Team, received the scholarship offer one week after
successful knee surgery May 30.
“It was really unexpected,” Cullen said. “I thought schools would want to
wait and see how I recovered, but their coaches said they’ve had players
with the same injury who have come back even stronger.”
Cullen, a second-team All-Sea View League selection for the three-time
defending CIF Southern Section Division I-AA and two-time defending state
champion Sailors, said she chose UCLA over USC, Stanford, Santa Clara and
Michigan.
“This takes a lot of pressure off,” she said of her collegiate
commitment. “They say my recovery time will be six months, which will be
Nov. 30.”
Cullen, along with Duke-bound senior Krista Dill, formed what Newport
Harbor Coach Dan Glenn termed the best middle blocking combo in the
Southern Section last fall.
She was expected to step into the spotlight vacated by decorated
graduates April Ross and Dill next season.
-- by Barry Faulkner
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