NOTES AND QUOTES for a Saturday in the Napa Valley:

Kevin Robledo began the 2009 college football season in a big way, catching seven passes for 106 yards and scoring two touchdowns for host Chowan University in the Hawks’ 36-21 loss to Albany State University in Murfreesboro, N.C., Thursday.

Robledo, a 2005 Napa High School graduate who also played football at Santa Rosa Junior College and Eastern Arizona College, started at wide receiver and handled the punting duties. Robledo had scoring receptions of 48 and 20 yards, respectively.

Robledo (5-foot-11, 205 pounds) wears No. 4 for Chowan, which is an NCAA Division II independent school.

He was a slot receiver for Santa Rosa, which runs a “Fast Break” offense, a no-huddle, pass-oriented attack out of the shotgun with four-receiver sets. He transferred to Santa Rosa after playing his first year of college football at Eastern Arizona in Thatcher, Ariz.

Robledo was Napa’s quarterback in 2004 when the Indians compiled a 9-2-1 record and won their third straight Monticello Empire League championship.

He had a big senior season at Napa, passing for 1,409 yards, rushing for 928 yards, and accounting for 12 total touchdowns. He was First-Team All-MEL at punter and Second-Team at quarterback. He was named All-Napa County on offense and Honorable Mention All-Metro by The Sacramento Bee.

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Mike Gibson saw playing time in a back-up role at guard for Philadelphia in the Eagles’ 33-32 NFL preseason win over visiting Jacksonville at Lincoln Financial Field Thursday night.

Gibson played football at Napa High, Solano Community College and UC Berkeley.

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All is well at the college level for Napa’s Max Alvarez.

The former Napa High star scored two goals and added an assist as the Cal State Sacramento men’s soccer team completed exhibition play with a 6-1 victory over visiting Cal State Monterey Bay at Hornet Soccer Field Thursday.

Alvarez is a freshman for Sacramento, which opens up regular season play on Sept. 1 at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga.

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Nicki Brown, a junior setter from Napa, had a good all-around match with 24 assists, four kills, one service ace, three digs, a solo block and two assisted blocks as the Cal State Stanislaus volleyball team beat Academy of Arts Tuesday in Turlock, 3-0.

Brown went to Napa High.

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Bucknell volleyball coach Cindy Opalski anticipates moving Kyleigh McAhren from middle hitter, a position she played for much of her freshman season, to the right and left sides of the front line for the 2009 season.

“With the people we have acquired in this year’s recruiting class, we’re going to move Kyleigh to a position where she can be much more effective,” Opalski said on the Bucknell athletic Web site. “Kyleigh is a really smart hitter.”

McAhren is from Napa and went to Justin-Siena.

Bucknell was picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League preseason poll.

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Devin Whitmill begins her sophomore season of women’s soccer for Whitworth University of Spokane, Wash.

Whitmill, who went to Napa High, started seven matches last year and played extensively in others. The Pirates were 15-4-1 overall and 11-4-1 in the Northwest Conference last year.

Nonconference matches against St. Olaf (Minn.), Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.), UC Santa Cruz and Capital (Ohio) is expected to challenge Whitworth right from the start.

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Two Napa High players, Noelle Roldan and Shannon Rankin, were named to this year’s “Girls of Summer” list of top California prep basketball players, which was assembled by CalHiSports.com.

Evaluation areas, according to CalHiSports, include speed and quickness, passing and shooting, rebounding, defensive intensity, footwork, endurance, attitude and teamwork, just to name a few.

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Spencer Schwandt started at forward and had an assist for the San Francisco State men’s soccer team in a 4-0 season-opening win over Saint Martins Thursday in Lacey, Wash.

Schwandt is from Napa and went to Vintage.

The Gators continue their Pacific Northwest trip with a game at Seattle Pacific today.

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Matt Yourkin picked up his fifth and sixth saves of the Double-A Eastern League season for the Connecticut Defenders.

The Napa High graduate pitched an inning, walking one and striking out one, in Connecticut’s 5-4 win Tuesday over New Britain. He also went an inning with a walk and strikeout in the Defenders’ 3-1 win over New Britain on Thursday.

Yourkin has a 2.52 earned run average.

Connecticut is an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.

E-mail Executive Sports Editor Marty James at mjames@napanews.com or call 256-2223.