HITTING IT BIG

Whittier Christian’s Tim Layton continues to rack up big numbers this season, helping the Heralds to the top of the Olympic League. But don’t be fooled into thinking he’s only someone who beats up on the smaller-school, Division III competition.

“Talent-wise, he’s as good as [Newport Harbor’s] Billy Clayton,” said Roger Jocson, Layton’s club coach at Sunset Beach. “I think he’s almost as good as [Marina’s] Jeff Wootton, he just doesn’t get the same recognition as the beach-school guys.”

Clayton has signed with Stanford, and Wootton, a U.S. junior national team member, has signed with Long Beach State.

Layton, a 6-foot-6 outside hitter, was recruited by San Diego State, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine, but he chose Brigham Young.

Layton made his mark during the club season, holding his own against some of the elite players, including Pepperdine’s Brad Keenan (Fountain Valley High), Stanford’s Curt Toppel (L.A. Loyola) and USC’s Miles McGann (Laguna Beach).

“BYU wants Tim as a middle blocker,” Jocson said. “But he can play any position.”

Said Whittier Christian Coach Lisa Bloom: “We can put him wherever he needs to be. He knows the game and the court so well, it seems like he’s been in it forever.”

Layton said he didn’t pick up the sport until he was a freshman at Whittier Christian, and he only jumped into the sport on a whim.

“I was really into basketball,” Layton said. “And I asked the JV basketball coach, ‘How could I jump as high as the volleyball players?’ So I went out for the team--I was 6-4 as a freshman--and I made the varsity.”

Layton could have played varsity for a high school with a higher-profile sports program--his family lives in the attendance area for Esperanza--but he chose to stay in the comfortable surroundings of Whittier Christian.

“My mom works at the elementary school there and I went there,” Layton said. “I didn’t want to go to a new school and leave all of my friends. I would have been going from a graduating class of about 150 to about 1,000 at Esperanza.”

Layton enjoys the small-school feel and the opportunity to play a variety of sports, including football and basketball. In fact, an arrangement he made with his friend Steve Zieman, a 6-5 senior, has helped the Heralds’ volleyball team immensely.

“I wasn’t going to play basketball this season because of all the recruiting stuff going on,” Layton said. “I’ve been trying to get Steve to come out for volleyball, so we made a deal that if he played volleyball this season, I would play basketball.”

Said Bloom: “It’s been a good season. Last year, Tim would get frustrated real easily, but this year, he knows he has to be more encouraging and help his teammates along. He’s the only year-round club player we have.

“He’s been a real mature player.”

Jocson, who has coached Layton since his sophomore year, has also seen Layton’s growth.

“Early on, Stanford was recruiting him too,” Jocson said. “But Tim’s grades weren’t good enough, so they backed off. But ever since that Stanford thing, he’s brought his grades up about a full point.

“He’s a hard worker.”

SLEEPERS

Cypress and Tustin have quietly put together solid seasons. Each remains unbeaten in league play and each has talented players who haven’t received a lot of media attention.

Cypress, which lost its only match this season in five games to Cerritos Gahr in the Orange County Championships, leads the Empire League with 6-3 setter Garrett Massey leading the offense.

Cypress’ first-year coach, Heather Dillard, who set at Utah State and Alabama Birmingham, can’t understand why a college coach hasn’t already scooped up Massey.

“He’s the best setter I’ve seen this year,” Dillard said. “At the very least, he’s on par with the Woodbridge setter [Jason Liljestrom], who’s going to Princeton. And Garrett’s bigger.”

El Dorado Coach Roger Jocson coaches Massey with the Sunset Beach club and against him in the Empire League.

“He’s as good a setter as there is in North Orange County,” Jocson said. “He didn’t set for me in club, but he’s really improved a lot since the club season. He’s really worked at it.”

At Tustin, 6-5 middle blocker William Diep has helped the Tillers to the top of the Golden West League.

In 1998, Kevin Kowalski helped the Tillers reach the Division II final. Tustin Coach Archie Ochoa also coached the Tillers that season, and he said Diep measures up favorably with Kowalski, a Times’ second-team all-county selection in ’98.

“Even some referees are asking me where William is going to play next season,” Ochoa said. “He has a 4.7 grade-point average. . . . He’s for real.”

LOOKING AHEAD

El Toro, ranked fourth in the county, will host sixth-ranked San Clemente at 5:15 today in a key South Coast League match.

The Chargers, who won the first meeting and are undefeated in league, are led by UC Irvine signee Kyle Martin and Jimmy Pelzel, who is being recruited by Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and other schools.

San Clemente has plenty of firepower too, with UCLA-bound Gray Garrett.

Top-ranked Marina will get a test when it travels to play at ninth-ranked Fountain Valley Wednesday. On Thursday, Woodbridge will try to climb back into the county’s top-10 rankings when it hosts seventh-ranked Newport Harbor.

*

If you have an item or idea for the boys’ volleyball report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at mike.itagaki@latimes.com