EDINBURG — Lauren Moubray paused for a moment from signing her paperwork to look at her phone and double check the date.
A day she was uncertain would ever arrive turned into a day she’ll never forget.
On Tuesday, Moubray signed a letter-of-intent to play volleyball for Peru State College in Nebraska following a season in which she battled more than just COVID-19. Early during her senior season, Moubray felt a pop in her knee at the end of a rally.
“I jumped normally, landed normally and my knee just popped,” Moubray said. “I was like, ‘Don’t be my ACL,’ but it was my lateral meniscus. I just cried a lot and couldn’t move my knee.”
It was the Warriors’ third match of the season and while the pandemic hurdle seemed to be cleared, even though the volleyball season for most schools were reduced to district-only schedules, Moubray had another battle to fight.
“My thoughts were whether I would find schools that were willing to take me, and am I going to be ready to play by the time club season in order to try and get recruited,” she said. “But I dealt with it by not giving up hope, persevering and emailing schools. It was the only way I could get in contact with schools because of COVID.”
Along the way, she received a response from Peru State and conversations began. She recently visited the campus and it didn’t take long before she felt that it was the perfect fit.
“We did a virtual meeting over the summer and ended up visiting a few weeks ago and I really liked the school,” she said. “The people, the coaches and the environment was wonderful.”
Moubray is a five-year Venom club player and a three-year varsity member for McAllen Rowe. With the Warriors, Moubray played 180 sets and collected 179 kills, 49 blocks, 67 digs and six aces. As a junior, the 5-foot-10 right side hitter tallied 113 kills and had a 50.9% kill ratio. She is the 37th Venom player to continue on to playing volleyball in college.
She said she is currently in “active recovery” and just a couple weeks from getting back on the court. She added she plans to hit the court running.
Before volleyball, Moubray was involved in dancing. She began playing volleyball in third grade. She is the daughter of Liana and Jeff Moubray.
“I trained until sixth grade when I started playing club and traveling,” she said. “Last season I just tried to keep a positive attitude even though times were tough and it wasn’t easy. I kept myself happy even though I was on crutches for two weeks and kept that ‘you’re-gonna-be-back-soon’ positive attitude and that helped me.”