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