

Rachael Cullen, first from right, returned from a scary head injury to maintain her role as a steadying presence on Loudoun County’s rock solid back line. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

There is a certain fearlessness to Rachael Cullen that takes even her closest friends and teammates by surprise. The Loudoun County senior libero flies around the court with reckless abandon. She careens around any obstacles in her way and ducks to the floor without inhibition to save a shot from hitting the hardwood.

“She is just fearless, tenacious, challenging, confident,” Raiders Coach Sherrilyn Hanna said.

Hanna has coached Cullen since middle school in club volleyball and coached the junior varsity team at Loudoun County before taking the varsity job in 2014.

The Raiders will play for their ninth Virginia 4A state championship in 10 years when they face Jamestown on Saturday in Richmond. A win would give them five in a row.

Hanna’s predecessor, Jenica Brown, took Loudoun County from doormat in 2002 to regional power by the late 2000s. She established a blueprint of teams that served mercilessly and featured some of the region’s fiercest hitters.

This year’s Raiders still fit that mold behind the offense of Hailey Rubino and Hannah Aycock , another player Hanna coached since youth volleyball. But Loudoun County’s defense, led by Cullen, has perhaps set this team apart from years past.

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The Raiders sustain rallies and work to stay in system. If they don’t win a point on the first volley, their back row can outlast opponents. There’s a certain swagger that comes with that mentality.

Hanna sees it in Cullen.

“Any great athlete, any athlete that’s going to play at a level that she does, they have to have something behind them,” Hanna said. “They have to have some drive, whether you call that leadership or a mind of their own.”

For Cullen, it’s a little bit of both. On the service line, she will serve at other liberos and turn the match into a mini one-on-one.

On defense, she goes flying after balls perhaps more easily playable for a paying spectator.

“I have this motto for myself: ‘I will go after every ball even if it is unreasonable,’ ” she said.



In addition to leading the team with 290 digs, Rachael Cullen is Loudoun County’s second-leading server with 65 aces this fall. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)

”She brings up everyone’s level of intensity,” teammate Hailey Rubino said of Loudoun County libero Rachael Cullen (in white). (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)

But most balls don’t look that unreasonable to Cullen. She has committed to play goalkeeper for North Carolina Wesleyan’s soccer team, and she uses those goaltending drills during volleyball season to sharpen her reactions and footwork.

A ball headed “upper 90,” or to the top corner of the goal, is not much different from a spike flying wide over her head. Either one, she can punch back into play.

“When you see her going after a ball like that, it makes you want to work even harder to get the next ball or just work your hardest,” Rubino said. “If you see her doing that, then you know that you should be doing the same thing. She brings up everyone's level of intensity.”

Which makes the start of her season all the more surprising. Cullen went out for a neighborhood bicycle ride in late July and sometime later woke up on the sidewalk alone. She’s not sure how she fell or what exactly happened. No one was around to see it. But she cracked her skull in three places.

She missed all of preseason workouts and the first month of games. The second month, she came back with a helmet and told Hanna she was ready to go.

“She kind of wears it as a trophy,” Hanna said.

“She’s made it look good,” said Rubino.

Hanna eased Cullen back into matches and didn’t give her the libero jersey until a couple weeks later. Even after missing a month and splitting time the next, Cullen still leads the team in digs.

On Saturday, she will lead her defense against a Jamestown team averaging 13.1 kills per set and hitting a blistering .358. In the past four years, the Raiders have faced the Eagles three times in the state title game and once in the state semifinals. They’ve won every match. That’s the expectation Hanna has for her team — and the confidence Cullen inspires.