Senior Profile: Mobley stands tall for RedHawks

The Colusa High volleyball team surpassed its win total from last season with a victory against Esparto on Wednesday, and a large reason for the RedHawks' success is the leadership of senior Emily Mobley.

Mobley, 17, is a versatile player who can play anywhere on the court for the RedHawks, who are 6-7 this season after finishing 5-13-3 last year.

At 6-foot-1 she is dangerous on the block, she's athletic enough to play outside hitter, and played setter as a sophomore.

"My sophomore year I was setting and I learned a lot about volleyball that year. It was my favorite year of my volleyball career, but this past club season opened a whole lot of new doors for me," Mobley said.

Her sights are set on playing volleyball collegiately, and she worked toward that goal in the spring by playing club volleyball instead of being a part of the RedHawks' section championship winning softball team.

Mobley hopes to catch the attention of California State University, Sacramento and is looking into several community colleges to continue her volleyball career while she studies to become a registered nurse.

In the spring, she played for the Dynamix, a club out of Arbuckle that is coached by Pierce coach Kim Travis, and her experience playing club volleyball helped her grow into a leader on the court.

Watching game film while playing for the Dynamix helped Mobley analyze her game and improve her fundamentals. She said she is able to share many of the tips and pointers she learned during the spring with her RedHawks teammates.

"They filmed us during club and I could see what I was doing wrong, like if I wasn't hitting the ball high enough or something like that, so I just help (my teammates) with the pointers they gave me playing club," she said.

It's likely she will play club volleyball instead of softball again in the spring, but she will definitely return to the basketball court where she excelled last season.

Much like her older sister, Katie, who graduated last year and is on the Yuba College women's basketball team, Emily stands taller than most of her peers, and both followed in the footsteps of their even taller older brother, David.

"We're all three kind of known in this school as the Mobleys, the tall ones, or something like that," she said with a laugh.

Having older siblings to blaze the way and growing up in a small community such as Colusa helped her avoid teasing and bullying that comes with being taller than most of the boys.

"Growing up in a smaller community you get to know everyone and they get to know you so they don't judge you on your height," she said.

It helps that her roots run deep in Colusa. Her grandparents went to Colusa High and her mother, Nancy, graduated as a Redskin. Even after Emily graduates, she has three sisters who will continue to go to school there — the triplets; Jordan, Jasmine and Chelsea.

However, there is one member of the family that is missing, who Mobley honors by wearing the number 11 on her jersey. Her twin brother Dylan passed away when they were six months old from a heart condition.

"One is for me and one is for Dylan so that's why 11 is my favorite number," she said.

Though she was too young to have any memories of Dylan or his passing, he is still a part of her and somebody she thinks about.

"It's always stuck in the back of my mind; what would he be like, what sports would he be playing, would he be helping me on this on that, what classes would he be in, who would he hang out with, there's all those questions that you wish you could answer," she said.

Away from sports, Mobley is active in her church where she attends youth group, Young Life, and goes on many camping trips. She's been involved in 4-H for seven years and enters a pig into the county fair annually.

CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com.

Each Saturday, Tri-County Newspapers will profile a senior athlete. If you would like to nominate a senior student-athlete who has an interesting story, please email your suggestions to Craig Purcell at cpurcell@tcnpress.com.