Senators face “monster” in grid opener

Carson High’s football team will face a big-name player, and I do mean big, when it takes the field to face Clayton Valley Charter to open the football season on Aug. 30 at Del Oro High School in Loomis.

The “big” is Kahlil McKenzie, the son of Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie. As a 6-foot-4, 330-pound junior at De La Salle, McKenzie registered 74 tackles and 12 sacks. This past Monday, McKenzie announced on his Twitter account he was transferring to Clayton Valley Charter for his senior season.

As a De La Salle alum, I can’t remember too many athletes transferring AWAY from the school. McKenzie said it was “a family decision” and he wasn’t going to answer any questions about it.

McKenzie has narrowed his college choice down to Tennessee and Arizona, and is expected to make his decision public on July 10.

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Jaycie Roberts opened plenty of eyes with her play for Carson High’s volleyball team this past fall, and she has continued her stellar play for the Silver State Volleyball’s 16-Black squad.

Roberts, who averaged 3.4 digs per set for the Senators, leads her club team with a 2.2 serve-receive rating on a 3.0 scale and averages more than nine digs per set.

“Jaycie possesses maturity on the court far beyond her years,” said club coach Sonny Perez. “She is a great ballhandler and has the no-fear mentality to come up with so many amazing digs. She reminds me of a smaller version of Cassie Loesberg (University of Miami). She has the same fast feet and grit. She’s nicknamed Jesus because she is always saving our team.”

Roberts was one of two northern Nevada players recognized for defense by PrepVoleyball.com. She was honorable mention, while Reed’s Moriah Maluotoga was a third-team pick.

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Keep an eye on the U.S. Women’s Open this week, which is also being played at Pinehurst No. 2.

You may very well see golf’s version of a female Tiger Woods. I’m talking about San Francisco 11-year-old Lucy Li, who’s in the field after winning the sectional at Half Moon Bay by a whopping seven shots. Are you kidding me? Seven shots against adults?

Li is being homeschooled on line through a Stanford University program, according to her coach, Jim McLean. She trains part of the year with McLean in Miami. Her family came from Hong Kong to California. Her father is a computer consultant and her mother works in the technology industry. She has a brother at Princeton.

According to an AP story, Li’s mother initially tried to push her to interests outside of golf. Now, the family is fully behind the endeavor.

Li’s family, however, has declined interview requests thus far. We’ll see how long that lasts.

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If you followed the PGA qualifier out of Dayton, you remember Clayton Rask.

He was the golfer from Minnesota, who sometimes stayed in a camper the week of the tournament. Eventually one of the members took him in. Rask qualified for the U.S. Open, and actually made the cut.

Through Saturday’s round he was at 11-over-par 221.

He got off to a 2-under-par start on Thursday, and even got a little face time on ESPN.