Mull Overcomes Inexperience and Injuries to Court Success : Volleyball: Persistence of senior middle blocker pays off as Marina becomes one of county’s top-ranked teams.

John Mull used to wonder why he listened to his friend, Phoung Vu.

During their freshman year at Marina High School, Vu convinced the 6-foot-5 Mull to play volleyball.

“Don’t waste your height,” Vu told him. “You have to play a sport of some kind.”

Little did Mull know that he would get cut from the junior varsity and later overcome two ankle injuries before joining Vu on the Vikings’ varsity.

Now a starting senior on one of the top teams in Orange County, Mull looks back at his career and shakes his head.

“It’s a pretty weird story,” he said.

It began three years ago, when Mull was cut during junior varsity tryouts. He was a newcomer to the sport, and he didn’t know what he was doing.

“Then one of the guys quit the junior varsity team, and they asked me if I wanted to come back and play,” Mull said.

But Mull never made it. He broke his left ankle playing pickup basketball and missed the entire season.

After his ankle healed, Mull improved his play during summer club tournaments and pickup games. He started on the junior varsity as a sophomore, and was promoted to the varsity by mid-season.

In his second day of varsity practice, he tore ligaments in his left ankle. Again, his season ended prematurely.

“I was lucky I got to my junior year,” Mull said.

But he did, cracking the starting varsity lineup. The Vikings went 11-7 and reached the second round of the Southern Section playoffs.

Mull is one of four returning starters from last season’s team. Vu and Scott Anderson are the Vikings’ other two starters. Mull is also one of four Division I college prospects on the team along with outside hitter Dennis Winners, setter Greg Gratteau and middle blocker Brant Shelor.

“I’ve talked with Pepperdine and I’ve received some letters from UC Santa Barbara,” Mull said. “I haven’t made any decisions yet.”

Marina Coach John Burns said Mull will be a solid college player.

“He has a lot of potential, but he’s going to have to work on his aggressiveness when he moves up to the next level (college),” Burns said. “He needs to work some more on his passing and his defense, too.

“But he serves well. And the colleges look at the strong middle (players) first, and he’s solid there.”

Mull is averaging 12 kills and six blocks, and has a .555 hitting percentage. And his easygoing personality blends in well with his teammates.

“Winners is the one who is always joking around, and Gratteau is our leader because he has been playing for so long,” Mull said. “Shelor’s the brain. He has a 4.3 grade-point average or something. Me? I’m laid-back. I just go with the flow.”

Burns calls Mull “the quiet guy.”

“But he’s one of those kids who leads by example,” he said. “He’s so quiet, that when he does say something, everyone goes, ‘Whoa, wait a minute.’ ”

His play was inspiring in a recent four-game victory over Corona del Mar. Mull had 13 kills and five blocks, and his hitting percentage was an outstanding .666.

“I think he and Shelor are the two best middle blockers in the county,” Burns said. “We set up our whole offense with those two in the middle, then work it outside.”

Marina (4-1) was top-ranked in Orange County until a four-game loss to Newport Harbor last week.

With Winners nursing a shoulder injury, Mull and Shelor carried the load. Mull finished with 12 kills and Shelor added 14 kills and seven blocks.

Despite the loss, Mull said the Vikings have been playing well. Winners is expected back soon, and the Vikings are expected to be in the thick of the Sunset League race with Edison and Huntington Beach.

“The Southern Section tournament is our goal this year,” Mull said. “We were disappointed when we lost to Santa Barbara in the second round. But I think we have a pretty good chance (to win) this year. But we’ll have to play well.”