Benet senior Christine Pullen is a defensive dynamo, just like her sisters.
Unlike them, she plays indoors in the fall, instead of outdoors in the spring.
In 2019, Pullen’s older sisters Dani and Brooke helped Benet’s girls soccer team win the Class 2A state championship, the first in program history. They were known as tough-nosed defenders. Christine Pullen once intended to follow in their footsteps.
“I was put into soccer around fifth grade,” Christine Pullen said. “But then I played volleyball at St. Peter and Paul, and I learned to love it.
“So I quit soccer and went a different path.”
Soccer’s loss was volleyball’s gain. Benet girls volleyball coach Brad Baker is thrilled to have Pullen playing defensive specialist.
“We love (defensive specialists) because they make the game easier for everyone, and she makes the game easier for everyone — our setters, our hitters,” Baker said. “Because when you pass well, it makes the whole game kind of slow down.
“She brings a calmness to the back row. She’s a Division I-caliber defensive specialist, so she’s really good.”
The Redwings (31-2) have a long tradition of producing top-flight defensive players and liberos, and this team is no exception. Their back line has junior libero Aniya Warren, who has committed to play at Indiana; junior defensive specialist Morgan Asleson, a Dayton commit; and Pullen, one of the team’s best servers.
“It definitely helps us run our stuff because if we didn’t have those liberos, I think that our system would be harder to run, especially with how much we run the middle,” Benet sophomore setter Ellie Stiernagle
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said. “All the defensive players do an outstanding job at practice and even in games. They always come up to the pressure of it.”Pullen and outside hitter Ava Novak are the only two seniors who get regular playing time, and Pullen’s steady leadership is a comfort to Stiernagle.
“I trust her wholeheartedly,” Stiernagle said. “She’s such a calm presence on the court, and she is always encouraging.
“She can set and pass. If she has a bad pass, she comes back and aces the next one. She always helps us get back into the groove.”
Pullen is more in the groove than ever before. As a junior, she had 40 kills, 20 aces, 34 assists and 63 digs to help the Redwings go 37-5 and finish second in Class 4A. She has taken on a bigger role this season, particularly vocally, following the graduation of Peyton Turner, who is at Texas-San Antonio.
“I try to get my voice out there because I was never a player who was loud before,” Pullen said. “Especially as a senior, I’ve been trying to be more vocal, and Aniya has helped me a lot.”
Pullen wasn’t always a defensive specialist. She played outside hitter until eighth grade, when her destiny became clear.
“I’m 5-6, 5-7, so I knew even back then,” she said. “Ava is in my grade, and she’s 6-3, so I was like, ‘I don’t know if I should stay on this path.’
“I was always pretty good at defense, even as an outside. I love playing defense, diving for everything, giving your 100% to get the ball up in the air.”
Pullen’s college plans are up in the air. But she said she has a 4.2 GPA and recently was honored by the College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Program, so she’s not worried about her academic future.
For now, she’s enjoying her final season with the Redwings, hoping to add another state championship to her family’s legacy.
“It’s definitely been a really fun ride so far,” Pullen said. “I hope to make it back to the championship (match) because that was so much fun.”
Her sisters have told her just how much fun it was to win a state title and are rooting for her.
“They tell me all the time that that was the best day ever,” Pullen said. “I really want to experience that. I really hope to get to join their state champ club.”
Regardless of the sport.
“They were happy that I got to do my own thing,” Pullen said. “They were always soccer, and they were close in age and they got to be on the team together.
“I never had that, so they were glad that I got to choose my own path.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.