Keeping an eye on you

Tony Altobelli

In the never-ending saga of trying to find as many former local

athletes from around the country, sometimes the former athlete turned

coach gets missed.

Such has been the case for former Estancia High grad and current Santa

Clara University women’s volleyball coach Jon Wallace.

In just his second season, Wallace helped guide the Broncos to the

best record in school history at 27-5. Additionally, Santa Clara won the

West Coast Conference Championship for the first time in seven years with

a 13-1 mark, beating traditional-powerhouse Pepperdine in five thrilling

games on Nov. 18.

During the regular season, Wallace’s team went up against 11 of the 64

teams selected to the NCAA Tournament and went 9-4 against them.

The Broncos, who finished the year ranked No. 17 in the AVCA/USA Today

polls, advanced to the second round of the NCAAs for only the second time

in school history. The other time was Wallace’s first year when the

Broncos finished 21-11.

A 1984 graduate of Estancia, Wallace played setter for UC Santa

Barbara and captained the 1988 UCSB squad that reached the NCAA

championship match before falling to USC in five games.

From there, Wallace was a setter for Team Nike in 1990-91 before

playing professionally in Switzerland for one season. In 1994, Wallace

played on the Bud Light Four-Man Beach Tour, earning the league’s best

defensive player award.

His coaching career began in 1989 at Corona del Mar where he coached

the Sea Kings’ junior varsity programs.

In 1990, Wallace assisted Bob Wetzel at Orange Coast College before

becoming the head coach at Golden West from 1992-93. In 1993, Wallace

guided the Rustlers to the California State Community College

Championship.

On the players’ circuit, former Newport Harbor boys volleyball

standout Billy Clayton is a freshman starting middle blocker for Stanford

University.

Clayton is fifth on the Cardinal (6-1) with 37 kills and five aces,

while his 16 blocks are third-highest on the team.

For those interested in catching up with Clayton, he’ll be playing at

UCLA on March 9, at UC Irvine March 10 and Long Beach State March 29.

Billy’s sister, M.E., has been making a name for herself on the track

and field team at Brigham Young University. The Cougars’ senior in the

team captain and will compete in the triple and long jumps this year.

M.E. has helped BYU win three consecutive Western Athletic Conference

championships in both indoor track and outdoor track.

Not to be forgotten is older sister Mandy Clayton, Class of 1995 for

the Sailors and 1999 for Stanford. The former Orange County all-star in

basketball and All-Orange County triple jumper for the Sailors, also

jumped for the Cardinal.