Heather Cullen

Barry Faulkner

Having emerged triumphantly from the operating room, Heather Cullen

is relishing the ample room she has to operate with the UCLA women’s

volleyball team.

Felled by a torn anterior cruciate ligament during a club practice

in 2000, which robbed her of her senior season at Newport Harbor

High, it was less than a day before Bruin Coach Andy Banachowski

called to assure her a scholarship would remain at the end of her

rehabilitation rainbow.

It was the first and only time in Banachowski’s illustrious 37

years at the UCLA helm he had offered a scholarship to a recruit who

had just sustained such a serious injury. It was not, as it turned

out, much of a gamble.

“I felt confident she would come back, because all the coaches who

had worked with her prior to the injury talked about how determined

and competitive she was,” Banachowski said. “When you get that

combination in a good athlete, you’ve got something.”

The effects of the injury, which Cullen admits slowed her freshman

campaign in Westwood, as well as the rare collection of skills

possessed by the 6-foot-1 standout, initially prevented Banachowski

from clearly defining Cullen’s role with the Bruins.

But now, as a junior tri-captain, Cullen’s diverse talents have

helped Banachowski introduce a system in which she, as well as a few

select teammates, play all three front-line positions.

“It’s an unusual system and something we’ve never done quite this

way,” Banachowski said. “She’ll play on the left side once, the

middle once, and on the right side once. It’s something we’re doing

to try to really take advantage of our kids’ individual talents.

“[Cullen] is very versatile and she has always been very quick off

the floor,” Banachowski said. “She has a lot of experience in the

middle, she has played a couple years on the right side, and she has

also played outside. This new system is kind of fun for all of us.”

Cullen, fully recovered from the knee problem (she shed the

cumbersome knee brace midway through her freshman year), has

blossomed into a leading contributor this season, after a solid

sophomore campaign in which she led the team with 30 service aces.

Through Friday’s Pac-10 victory over Oregon, she was second on the

team in kills (119) and digs (88), while her 23 blocks were

third-best and her nine aces were tied for second among the No.

8-ranked Bruins (10-2, 2-1 in conference).

“She had the talent coming out of high school, but it has taken a

while for her to recover from the injury and regain her confidence,”

Banachowski said. “She is playing with a lot of confidence and she

has really hit a good maturity level. Everyone just kind of looks to

her on the court, because she’s such a good competitor.”

Cullen’s positive impact crystallized during an early season

tournament in Montana, where she was named MVP after helping the

Bruins sweep all three opponents to claim the team title. She had 32

kills in three matches with a .377 attack percentage. She also

chipped in 12 digs.

“She was playing well and we were going to her a lot,” Banachowski

recalled. “It was just a good weekend for her.”

Cullen’s progress in the program has included becoming a much

stronger hitter and a very effective jump server.

“People used to make fun of me, because I didn’t stroke the ball

like I should have,” Cullen said. “It wasn’t like I was patty-caking

it, but I’ve learned to really hit the ball hard. I love playing in

this system, because I get to do a lot of different things. It’s a

really big learning curve because when you play three different

positions, there is something to work on everyday in practice. It

keeps me on my toes, but the last thing I want to be is bored.”

Cullen, a sociology major, has also polished an explosive jump

serve, which has made her a consistent scoring threat from the back

line.

“I used a float serve in high school,” she said. “But I started to

jump serve the winter of my freshman year. It’s awesome to score

points on the serve.”

Cullen, whose high energy is hard to miss on the floor, said she

enjoys the leadership role required of any captain and she believes

her team has great promise this season. She is also gratified to be

contributing so much, both to her teammates and her coach.

“I absolutely feel a responsibility to Andy, because of how he

stood by me [after the injury],” Cullen said. “[A USC recruiter] was

at the practice when I got hurt and, five minutes after the injury,

they told me they wanted to see how the surgery went. But Andy called

me the next day and offered me a scholarship again. That was

awesome.”