SPORTS DIGEST : NOTABLE

Former Olympian Linda Murphy has been named girls volleyball coach at Burroughs High in Burbank, her alma mater. Murphy also attended Valley College and San Fernando Valley State (Cal State Northridge) before competing in the 1964 Olympics as a member of the womens volleyball team.

Murphy, a member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame, also competed in the Pan American Games in 1963 and 1967. She has been a teacher at John Muir Junior High the past 16 years.

For the fifth time in his 16 years as swim coach at Cal State Northridge, Pete Accardy has been selected NCAA Division II Coach of the Year by the College Swimming Coaches of America.

CSUN’s Van Austin was honored as diving coach of the year by the same group.

Former Pepperdine baseball player Jere Longenecker, a resident of Port Hueneme, was the Kansas City Royals minor league player of the month in July. Playing for the Memphis Chicks of the Southern League (Double-A), he batted .450 with eight doubles.

Jim Harrick, Pepperdine University basketball coach and a resident of Newbury Park, is reportedly one of the leading candidates for the coaching position at Arizona State, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The selection committee nominated 20 of the 32 applicants seeking the vacancy created when Bob Weinhauer was fired on July 9. Harrick is in his seventh year at Pepperdine.

Winners in singles competition at the Thousand Oaks Racquet Club tournament last weekend included three Valley athletes. In the boys 14-and-under singles division, Alvaro Martinez of West Hills was a 7-6, 2-6, 6-1 winner over Arata Itoh of Japan. In the girls 12-and-under division, Laura Kimel of Newhall, the fifth seed, defeated Julie Menefee of San Pedro, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6. Abigail Villena of Granada Hills won the girls 14-and-under division with a 6-7, 6-2, 6-1 win over Mureen Patton of Santa Barbara.

Jeff Bregel, a junior offensive guard from Kennedy High, is one of four players featured on the cover of the USC football media guide. The 6-4, 270-pounder is being touted as an All-American candidate. Last season, Bregel was named to the sophomore All-American team.