Santa Barbara High swept two matches on the first day of the Karch Kiraly Tournament of Champions and advanced to the semifinals of its annual boys volleyball event at J.R. Richards Gym.

The fourth-seeded Dons will face defending tournament and CIF-SS Division 1 champion Newport Harbor in one semifinal at 10:45 a.m. on Saturday.

The other semifinal pits No. 2 Mira Costa against third-seeded Marist of Chicago at 10:45. 

The winners will meet for the championship at 6:15 p.m. and the losers play for third place at 5:45 p.m.

Santa Barbara rebounded from its Channel League loss at Dos Pueblos on Thursday with a pair of convincing wins. The Dons swept Thousand Oaks, 25-16, 25-12, 25-21, and beat Sanger, 25-18, 25-19, 25-18.

They’ll face a huge challenge in Newport Harbor, which swept Santa Ynez and Burbank-Burroughs on Friday. The top-seeded Sailors are led by UC Santa Barbara signee Riggs Guy. He’ll be going up against a pair of future Gaucho teammates, Raglan Kear and Mikey Denver of the Dons.

Third-seeded Marist made its tournament debut with wins over Quartz Hill in three sets and Mira Costa’s No. 2 team in four.

Mira Costa’s No. 1 team swept West Ranch and Del Norte on Friday. 

Barry Punzal is a Noozhawk contributing writer, and was for many years Noozhawk's sports editor. He can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.