by Kirstin Olsen/ESPN RISE

The Tournament of Champions in Santa Barbara is one of the oldest and prestigious tournaments in California. The TOC starts today and ends on Halloween at Santa Barbara High School.

The tournament will consist of sixteen teams, including six ESPN FAB 50 teams, No. 1 Archbishop Mitty, No. 5 Newport Harbor, No. 6 Dos Pueblos, No. 26 La Costa Canyon, No. 27 Long Beach Wilson, No. 33 Santa Barbara.  Torrey Pines, Corona Del Mar, Harvard-Westlake, Cathedral Catholic, Bishop Montgomery, Bakersfield, Liberty, St. Francis, Buchanan and San Marcos are all in the field as well.

	Leonard Xu/ESPN RISE
	Carly Wopat of Dos Pueblos

This tournament is credited as the first in California to make the change from 2 out of 3 to 3 out of 5. Earlier this season Dos Pueblos faced Mitty at the Archbishop Mitty Invitational, where the Monarchs came out on top 3-1.  Mitty's next biggest challenge was at the Durango Classic in Las Vegas where they bested the field and squared off against Newport Harbor in the final (16-25, 25-21, 25-20) after dropping the first set.

Mitty continued its dominance sweeping through Nor Cal teams since then and will possibly face Newport or Dos Pueblos in the semis and finals, should they take care of business.

"We hope that our practices and competition we provide ourselves is proficient,” Mitty Head Coach Bret Almazan-Cesar stated. "Playing in the big tournaments all year is what we do to prepare for the state championship.”

A win at the TOC would be the first time that Mitty has won all of their tournaments in a season.

Dos Pueblos' lone loss on the year came against Mitty at the Archbishop Mitty Invitational.

Chargers' Head Coach Todd Garret feels confident his team is ready to face the No. 1 team in the nation again.

"We have grown immensely as the season has progressed. We talk a lot at practice about "getting better today".  We have won some close 5 gamers.  Those are big confidence boosters and we use that to make us better, ” Garret stated.

"We are taking it one game at a time.  We have a to play a lot of volleyball against very good teams before we would see Mitty,” he added. 

Newport Harbor has had a long week with a tough five game loss against Los Alamitos Thursday night. 

"We are still a little banged up right now so if we get the opportunity to play either DP or Mitty that means we were able to defeat two quality opponents in the first two rounds,” remarked Newport Head Coach Dan Glen.  "I have not seen DP in person this season but we did play them last year and it is virtually the same team, except they are a year older and a year better.”

"I think we have the size to play with both of them but they both present serious match up problems,” Glen added. "We have seen many good teams this season but nobody as physical as either DP or Mitty.  We would have to serve tough and play great defense to have a chance against either team.”

Friday's first Round Match-ups

Archbishop Mitty vs. San Marcos

Santa Barbara vs. Corona Del Mar

Long Beach Wilson vs. Cathedral Catholic

La Costa Canyon vs. Bishop Montgomery

Newport Harbor vs. Babersfield

Torrey Pines vs. Saint Francis

Harvard Westlake vs. Buchanan

Liberty vs. Dos Pueblos

The TOC final will be at 6:15 pm at the Santa Barbara High School gym. Check back soon for results!